Timeline 2009 October - December
Return to home
2009 Oct 1,
David Letterman, late-night TV talk show host, admitted in an
extraordinary monologue before millions of viewers that he had
sexual relationships with female employees, after a CBS News
employee tried to extort $2 million from him. Suspect Robert J.
Halderman later admitted his guilt and was sentenced to 6 months in
jail. He was freed on Sep 2, 2010, after serving 4 months.
(AP, 10/2/09)(SFC, 9/3/10, p.A4)
2009 Oct 1, The 19th annual Ig
Nobel Prizes were awarded at Harvard. The physics prize went to a
study of why pregnant women don’t tip over. The chemistry prize was
awarded to scientists who turned tequila into diamonds. The
veterinary medicine prize was given for finding that cows that have
names make more milk than those who remain anonymous. The medicine
prize went to a physician who, for fifty years, cracked the knuckles
on only his left hand to test his mother’s contention that
knuckle-cracking causes arthritis.
(http://tinyurl.com/yc5pndy)
2009 Oct 1, A new Walt Disney
Family Museum opened to the public in the Presidio of San Francisco.
(SFC, 10/2/09, p.E2)
2009 Oct 1, Mattel planned to
release its Mindflex toy, which allowed users to lift a ball and
send it through an obstacle course using brain control interface
technology.
(SSFC, 9/6/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 1, In California
operators at the Friant Dam began releasing pulses of water in a
move to rewet the San Joaquin riverbed in preparation for
reintroducing salmon species beginning next year. The dam, completed
in 1944, had turned 64 miles of the river into a dusty trench.
(SFC, 10/1/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 1, In Afghanistan an
American died when Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades
at a patrol in eastern Afghanistan. A British airman was killed when
a bomb exploded alongside his patrol near Camp Bastion in southern
Helmand province. Afghans began cashing in on incentives, which
ranged from $50 to $10,000, for information leading to weapons
caches or "the disruption of enemy activities." By the end of the
year “Operation Jaeza” paid out nearly $200,000.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 1/1/10)
2009 Oct 1, Britain’s Serious
Fraud Office announced that it would seek prosecution of defense
equipment firm BAE Systems over alleged corruption involving
contracts with European and African nations.
(AFP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, Benjamin Chocat
(20), from Choisy-Le-Roi south of Paris, and his mother Christiane
Chocat (51), a councilor in Lumigny-Nesles-Ormeaux southeast of
Paris, helped to smuggle at least 13 men and 3 women in a hire van
on a ferry from Cherbourg in France to Portsmouth. The Vietnamese
immigrants were hidden behind boxes of shrimp noodles.
(AP, 1/4/10)
2009 Oct 1, In Canada Said
Nomad (36), a Moroccan citizen living in Quebec since 2003, was
convicted in Montreal of plotting attacks in Germany and Austria to
get NATO nations to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/2/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 1, China celebrated 60
years of communist rule with a military parade and elaborate
pageantry on Beijing's Tiananmen Square showcasing the nation's
revival as a global power. China demonstrated its new J-10 fighters
and DF-31 nuclear ICBM.
(AFP, 10/1/09)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 1, In Indonesia rescue
workers used excavators to pull out victims from the heavy rubble of
buildings felled by the previous day’s 7.6 earthquake. The death
toll was expected to rise. The region was jolted by another powerful
earthquake, causing damage but no reported fatalities.
(AP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Iraq an American
soldier was killed in a mortar attack at Baghdad's Camp Liberty. The
death raises to at least 4,348 members of the US military who have
died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an
Associated Press count.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Israeli authorities
charged an enigmatic Russian-born tycoon, who has fled the country,
with fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said Arkady Gaydamak
conspired with senior Israeli banking executives to conceal
financial activities worth around $175 million.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Lebanese
businessman, Hassan Alayan, alleged that he and several hundred
other Lebanese were expelled from the United Arab Emirates country
because they refused to spy on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah
and other fellow citizens.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Mexico gunmen in
Ciudad Juarez opened fire on a pickup truck, killing a 22-year-old
woman as well as a 10-year-old girl playing in a city park. Hours
earlier, a city police officer was killed as she rode on a bus.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Nigeria Tom
Ateke, leader of Niger Delta Vigilante, an ethnic Ijaw militia
group, formally accepted an amnesty offer in a meeting with Nigerian
President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Nigerian official
said 9 people died and several others were hospitalized this week
following a cholera outbreak in northern Taraba State, bringing the
death toll in the region to 97 over the last few weeks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, A Palestinian
decision to suspend the campaign for war crimes prosecutions was
first reported as the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva was
considering a vote on the Goldstone report. With the Palestinians
out of the picture, Arab and Muslim supporters followed suit, and
the vote was deferred to March. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
faced growing outrage at home over his decision to withdraw support
for the UN report.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Romania's coalition
government collapsed after nine ministers from the Social Democrats
quit to protest the firing of interior minister Dan Nica. Social
Democratic Party leader Mircea Geoana said the ministers resigned
"in solidarity" with Nica, who was fired by PM Emil Boc on Sep 28
over a statement about potential fraud in the upcoming Nov 22
election.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Somalia fighting
between rival Islamist factions over control of Kismayo, a key port
city, killed at least 12 people, in the first concrete sign of a
major split in the Islamist alliance threatening the fragile
UN-backed government.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, In Switzerland
senior American and Iranian delegates met one-on-one during a lunch
break at seven-nation talks in Geneva. Iran brought a broad range of
geopolitical issues to the table, while the six powers, the
permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, sought to soften
Iran's resistance to freezing its uranium enrichment program. Iran
accepted a demand to allow UN inspectors into its covertly built
enrichment plant.
(AP, 10/1/09)(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 1, Venezuela's top
security official said Julio Mendez (37), an American pilot wanted
in the United States on cocaine-smuggling charges, has been turned
over to representatives of the US State Department to be taken home.
(AP, 10/1/09)
2009 Oct 1, Nestle said it will
stop buying milk from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's wife's
farm after facing worldwide boycott threats.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, President Barack
Obama, while in Copenhagen, met with General Stanley McChrystal, the
top commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, for the first
time since McChrystal presented a grim assessment of the war effort
and requesting more troops.
(Reuters, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Michael David
Barrett (48), accused of taping surreptitious nude videos of ESPN
reporter Erin Andrews, was arrested at O’Hare Airport as he arrived
on a flight from Buffalo, NY. He faced federal charges of interstate
stalking for taking the videos, trying to sell them to celebrity Web
site TMZ and posting the videos online. On March 15, 2010, Barrett
was sentenced to 2½ years in prison.
(AP, 10/3/09)(SFC, 3/16/10, p.A5)
2009 Oct 2, In San Francisco
the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9 free music festival, financed by
investment banker Warren Hellman, opened for a 3 day session.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 2, In southern
Afghanistan a suicide bomber struck a US convoy, killing two
American soldiers. Militants attacked a convoy of empty trucks
returning to Pakistan after delivering supplies to a NATO base in
Kunar province of eastern Afghanistan. One driver was killed, three
were wounded and 13 trucks were burned. An Afghan policeman
conducting a joint operation with US soldiers opened fire on the
Americans, killing two of them before fleeing in Wardak province. A
third US service member died of wounds from a bomb attack in Wardak
the day before.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, An Australian woman
was sentenced to life in prison for the starvation death of her
7-year-old daughter. The woman was convicted of murder in June. Her
husband, convicted at the same time of manslaughter in his
daughter's death, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. The girl,
known as Ebony, weighed barely 20 pounds (9kg) when she died in
November, 2007.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Canada "Toronto
18" member Mohamed Dirie was sentenced to seven years in jail for
his role in a plot to bomb Toronto landmarks in 2006, the second
member of the group to be given jail time.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, Chechen forces
engaged in a 2-hour gunbattle with militants leaving 8 insurgents
dead.
(SFC, 10/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 2, In Denmark the IOC
opened a meeting hearing the cases led by government leaders and
kings to win the right to stage the 2016 Olympic Games. US Pres.
Obama spoke for Chicago, Japan's new PM Yukio Hatoyama spoke for
Tokyo, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva spoke for Rio de
Janeiro, and Spain's King Juan Carlos and PM Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero spoke for Spain. Brazil won the bid.
(AFP, 10/2/09)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, In England a Sikh
policeman was awarded 10,000 pounds in compensation by a tribunal
after bosses ordered him to remove his turban for riot training.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In France Armenia's
President Serge Sarkisian started his tour of Armenian communities
worldwide amid violent protests from members of a diaspora angry
over plans to establish ties with Turkey.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In southern India
flash floods and heavy rains killed at least 172 people in the state
of Karnataka and 50 in neighboring Andhra Pradesh. One more person
was killed in the southern seaside resort state of Goa as heavy
rains resulted in the collapse of 250 houses. Fifty of the victims
drowned when a rescue boat capsized.
(AFP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 2, A boat carrying
about 100 asylum seekers left an Indonesian port bound for Australia
but never arrived. The information was made public in May, 2010, by
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service chief executive
Michael Carmody during a routine Senate inquiry into government
operations.
(AP, 5/25/10)
2009 Oct 2, Ireland voted 67%
to 33% in favor of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, overturning a previous no
vote and taking a key step towards ending the 27-nation bloc's
deadlock.
(AFP, 10/3/09)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.25)
2009 Oct 2, In Italy rivers of
mud unleashed by heavy rains overnight flooded parts of the Sicilian
city of Messina, leaving at least 22 people dead while sweeping away
cars and collapsing buildings. 40 people remained missing.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 2, Hamas militants
traded a two-minute video showing an apparently unharmed Sgt. Gilad
Schalit, a captured Israeli soldier, for 19 Palestinian women held
in Israeli jails, the first tangible step toward defusing a key
flashpoint in Israeli-Palestinian hostilities.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Mexico gunmen
killed eight people in five separate attacks, including a state
policewoman who was shot in the head in broad daylight in a
residential area. In Ciudad Juarez at least 11 people, including two
police officers and a child, were killed over the last 24 hours. A
Mexican Air force plane crashed in President Felipe Calderon's home
state of Michoacan, killing three soldiers. Federal officials
announced 2 raids by security forces that netted the largest
seizures of methamphetamine precursor chemicals in the country's
history. Agents seized 20 tons of chemicals at Manzanillo port in
the Pacific coast state of Colima and 17 tons in the border city of
Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, The Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) sacked the managing directors of three banks which it
said were in "grave situation", seven weeks after it applied similar
sanctions to the heads of five other banks.
(AFP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Pakistan's
paramilitary forces said that they had killed 27 more militants,
including two commanders, in Khyber.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, In Puerto Rico some
500 law officers swarmed into a public housing project and other
sites to dismantle a trafficking ring allegedly run by the island's
top drug suspect, Angel Ayala Vazquez, a man described as an
aspiring Robin Hood and a patron to reggaeton stars. Ayala, better
known as "Angelo Millones," was captured last month following a
seven-year investigation.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, Six Senegalese
soldiers were killed and three wounded in an attack near the border
of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The soldiers were in a vehicle
returning to their base in the southern Casamance region east of its
capital Ziguinchor when their vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled
grenade.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 2, Somali pirates
hijacked the Alakrana, a Spanish tuna trawler, with a 36-member crew
in the Indian Ocean 415 miles (670km) from the Seychelles islands.
Two days later Spanish naval forces, taking part in the EU
anti-piracy mission, captured two suspected pirates as they tried to
travel ashore to Somalia from the Alakrana in a skiff. All of the
crew were released safe and sound 47 days later after a ransom of
four million dollars was paid.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AP, 11/5/09)(AFP, 9/24/11)
2009 Oct 2, In Sri Lanka a
schoolgirl (12) was killed by a car bomb in northwestern Sri Lanka
that also wounded 12 others, mostly students who were about to
travel in the vehicle.
(AP, 10/2/09)
2009 Oct 2, In southern Sudan
fighting broke out in an oil-rich area between forces loyal to an
ex-warlord and the state’s governor.
(AP, 10/2/09)(AFP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, David Headley
(b.1960 as Daood Sayed Gilani), a US citizen of Pakistani descent,
was arrested in Chicago. He was suspected of doing reconnaissance
for the Nov 26, 2008, Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.
(SSFC, 1/3/10,
p.D3)(www.talkleft.com/story/2009/12/7/125726/611)
2009 Oct 3, In Minnesota Somali
Pres. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed visited Minneapolis and St. Paul
and urged expatriates to help find solutions to the violence in
their homeland. The area is home to the largest Somali population in
the US.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.A10)
2009 Oct 3, In Afghanistan a
Taliban attack on a NATO supply convoy killed a civilian contractor
escorting the trucks. Militant fighters streaming from an Afghan
village and a mosque attacked a pair of remote outposts near the
Pakistani border in the Kamdesh district of Nuristan province,
killing 8 US soldiers and 3 Afghan soldiers. 13 Afghan police and 2
journalists were captured by the Taliban, including the local police
chief and his deputy. The bodies of five enemy fighters were found
after the battle. NATO later said enemy forces suffered more than
100 dead during the well-coordinated defense. A roadside bomb
southwest of Kabul killed a US service member.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)(AFP, 10/6/09)(AP,
2/5/10)
2009 Oct 3, In Ethiopia Abdi
Mohammed Awhasen, a top rebel leader in the restive Ogaden region,
surrendered. His arrest led to the seizure of some four tons of
explosive material.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 3, Reinhard Mohn
(b.1921), German book publisher, died. He helped transform media
group Bertelsmann AG from a German book publisher to an
international media company. Mohn took over his family's printing
and publishing business, C. Bertelsmann Verlag, in 1947. In 1971 he
helped oversee the family-owned company's transformation into a
stock corporation and become chairman and chief executive. In 1977,
he established the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation. Bertelsmann's
106,000 employees are scattered across its divisions in more than 50
countries.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, An Iraqi commander
said security forces have detained more than 100 suspects in sweeps
through Mosul to try to cripple the country's last major stronghold
of Sunni insurgents.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Rome tens of
thousands of people gathered to defend freedom of the press accusing
Pres. Silvio Berlusconi of trying to silence critical voices.
(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 3, The Israeli army
carried out airstrikes on a weapons workshop east of Gaza City and
two weapons smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border. The
strikes were in response to one mortar shell and one rocket fired at
Israel from Gaza the day before.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 3, In Nigeria Farah
Dagogo, a former commander of the country's main militant group,
said that he and other field commanders in Rivers state have
surrendered all of their weapons. The Movement for the Emancipation
of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it has already replaced the
commanders who have surrendered. The group has said it would not
accept an amnesty deal. Loyalists of Government Ekpemupolo,
popularly known as Tompolo, filled up boats from the oil city of
Warri and made for Oporoza camp, a two-hour boat ride, to witness
him giving up his weapons.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, In northwestern
Pakistan suspected Taliban militants fatally shot tribal elder Malik
Abdul Majeed as he traveled to discuss anti-militancy efforts with
government authorities. The dead body of a man accused of spying for
the US turned up in the Bajur tribal region. Helicopter gunships
pounded militants hide-outs in Charmang town in Bajur, killing five
insurgents. Security forces killed three militants in the Swat
Valley and arrested 16 others.
(AP, 10/3/09)(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 3, In the Philippines
Typhoon Parma cut a destructive path across the northern Philippines
killing at least 30 people and leaving more than a dozen villages
flooded, piling further misery on the Southeast Asian nation after
floods from Ketsana claimed 298 lives.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 3-2009 Oct 4, In
southern Sudan 16 people were killed in clashes between forces loyal
to an ex-warlord and the governor's guards in oil-rich Unity State.
At least 23 people were killed and more than a thousand fled their
homes in ethnic clashes over the weekend.
(AFP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 3, Some 2,000 people
marched across Venezuela's capital to protest what they say is the
persecution of President Hugo Chavez's opponents.
(AP, 10/3/09)
2009 Oct 4, James Jones, US
national security adviser, said on CNN that Al-Qaida has fewer than
100 fighters operating in Afghanistan.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/y8kax72)
2009 Oct 4, In San Francisco
Michael Bailey (26) of Baton Rouge, La., was shot and killed after
being lured with friends at the City Nights club by a woman, who set
them up for a robbery at the Alice Griffith public housing project.
On Dec 23 prosecutors charged 5 people in the killing of Bailey. 2
of the 5 suspects were still at large.
(SFC, 10/6/09, p.C1)(SFC, 12/24/09, p.C4)
2009 Oct 4, In New Hampshire
Kimberly Cates (42) was killed and her daughter, Jaimie (11) was
gravely wounded following a machete attack by Steven Spader during a
home invasion by 4 teenagers. Steven Spader (17) and Christopher
Gribble (19) both of Brookline, N.H., were charged with first-degree
murder. In 2010 Spader was found guilty of murder and other charges
and sentenced to life in prison.
(www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20013067-504083.html)(SFC,
11/10/10, p.A6)
2009 Oct 4, Algerian
coastguards picked up 45 Algerian would-be migrants to Europe at
three places off the coast west of Algiers.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 4, Mercedes Sosa (74),
Argentine singer, died. Her music was banned after the generals
seized power in 1976. She had released over 70 albums and turned the
songs of others into great anthems of the left.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.42)
2009 Oct 4, Grameenphone,
Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone firm, opened the largest IPO in
Bangladesh history. It aimed to raise $70 million. It was owned by
Telenor, a Norwegian telephone company, and Grameen Telecom, a
non-profit founded by Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer of microfinance.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.88)
2009 Oct 4, Greeks cast ballots
in a snap general election likely to produce a change in government.
Voters angered by scandals and a foundering economy were expected to
reject the conservatives in favor of the opposition Socialists.
Socialist leader George Papandreou trounced the conservatives
under PM Costas Karamanlis (53) in an election focused on rescuing
the economy. Papandreou took 44% of the vote and won 160 of 300
parliamentary seats.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)(SFC, 10/5/09,
p.A2)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.54)
2009 Oct 4, In Iraq a fuel
tanker exploded near a checkpoint outside of Baghdad International
Airport, along a route once known as the world's deadliest road
because of frequent attacks there during the height of the
insurgency. The cause of the fire was under investigation. The body
of Imad Elia (45), an employee at Kirkuk's health directorate, was
found dumped in a field south of Kirkuk. He was shot in the chest
and authorities believe the captors kept shooting into his body
after he was dead. Elia was kidnapped two days before, but his
family was unable to pay the ransom demands. At least 10 Christian
families have left Kirkuk in recent weeks, fearing kidnap-for-ransom
gangs that have turned their sights on Christians.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, In Nigeria an
amnesty for militant in the Niger Delta officially expired.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 4, North Korea told
visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that it was open to bilateral
and multilateral talks on its nuclear programs.
(AFP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 4, In Pakistan
security forces and special police battled militants in a firefight
that killed six of the insurgents, including two commanders, Noorul
Amin and Fazl-e-Rabbi. Police in Peshawar arrested Hukam Khan, a
militant who was involved in attacking and looting convoys taking
supplies to US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and recovered a
substantial quantity of stolen goods. Hakimullah Mehsud, the new
leader of the Taliban in Pakistan, met with reporters in the
country's tribal areas for the first time since winning control of
the militants. Mehsud vowed to strike back at Pakistan and the US
for the increasing number of drone attacks in the tribal areas along
the border with Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/4/09)(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, The UAR’s official
news agency said Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of
the United Arab Emirates, has signed a law regulating the
development of a civilian nuclear program, clearing the way for
construction of a nuclear power plant with help from the United
States.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 4, Pope Benedict
opened a special meeting of bishops on Africa by praising the
continent as the world's spiritual center but lamenting that it
risks being afflicted by materialism and religious fundamentalism.
(AP, 10/4/09)
2009 Oct 5, President Barack
Obama ordered the federal government, the nation's largest energy
user, to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce its impact
on the environment.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/3326813)
2009 Oct 5, Americans Elizabeth
H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009
Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering a key mechanism in the
genetic operations of cells, an insight that has inspired new lines
of research into cancer.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Don Hill, a former
Dallas Mayor Pro Tem, was convicted in a bribery and extortion
scheme that prosecutors called the largest in Dallas history.
(SFC, 10/6/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 5, Drugmaker
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said its new diabetes drugs, Onglyza, has
been approved for sale in the European Union's 27 countries.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Afghan election
workers began recounting ballots from the disputed Aug. 20
presidential election, and a senior official said he expected to
announce late next week whether President Hamid Karzai had won or
would face a runoff with his main rival. One British soldier died
after an explosion in southern Afghanistan. The Afghan defense
ministry said Afghan and American forces killed 40 militants in 24
hours as they hunted in mountainous eastern Afghanistan for
insurgents behind the Oct 3 attacks.
(AP, 10/5/09)(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Belgium hundreds
of dairy farmers drove tractors into Brussels to pressure EU farm
ministers on declining milk prices, as 20 of 27 member nations
called for more protection from the volatile world market.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, The first official
history of Britain's MI5 was published, ending 100 years of secrecy
over British spying during two world wars, the Cold War and the
current fight against Islamic extremism. "The Defence Of The Realm:
The Authorized History of MI5" was written by Cambridge University
historian Christopher Andrew, who was given virtually unrestricted
access to some 400,000 files, and even joined the domestic
intelligence agency himself.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.87)
2009 Oct 5, In Burundi 2 days
of clashes began as government forces fired live rounds in the air
to deter hundreds of Congolese refugees from returning home. Some
900 refugees had decided to return home on foot rather than be
transferred to a new camp further away from the border with
Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Chile 4 former
top army officials were sentenced to prison in the murder of a
colonel shortly after he testified about a 1991 illegal deal to
smuggle weapons to Croatia.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, Rafael Calderon,
former Costa Rican president (1990-1994), was convicted and
sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling funds from a
Finnish loan intended for medical equipment for public hospitals.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Dubai's annual
property fair, the Cityscape expo, opened as a toned down event.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, It was reported
that conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on
imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their
virginity and one scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone
who imports or uses it. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit,
distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is
intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into
believing they are virgins.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Ethiopia's
President Girma Woldegiorgis told parliament that government is
aiming to achieve double-digit economic growth in 2009. An official
from the Oxfam charity said as many as 6.2 million Ethiopians need
emergency humanitarian assistance due to severe drought.
(AFP, 10/6/09)(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti said an emergency decree that
prohibited large street protests and limited other civil liberties
following the return of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya "has
been completely revoked."
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Iraq a suicide
bomber killed at least six mourners at funeral for a member of a
prominent tribe with ties to both security forces and insurgents in
Haditha, Anbar province.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Mexico gunmen
burst into a bar in the northern border city Ciudad Juarez and shot
5 men to death. Soldiers arrested Eduar Vera (30), a suspect linked
to at least 27 killings. In the southern state of Guerrero, gunmen
killed two state police officers in the city of Iguala.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Mexico efforts
to film Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's latest
novel, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" (2004), met resistance as
an anti-prostitution group sought to block production, charging the
movie will promote child prostitution. The Regional Coalition
Against Trafficking in Women and Girls in Latin America and the
Caribbean filed a criminal complaint with Mexico's Attorney
General's Office.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of
the UN food agency's headquarters in Islamabad, killing five people
a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban vowed fresh
assaults.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, A South Korean
lawmaker, Kwon Young-se, said North Korea has received the
equivalent of about $2.2 billion under deals aimed at persuading the
isolated nation to dismantle its nuclear facilities, in what his
office said is the first accounting of the cost of the failed
strategy. In addition to the money it was given in the
disarmament-for-aid deals, the North has also received nearly 4
trillion won ($3.4 billion) of food, fertilizer and other
humanitarian aid from the US, South Korea and international
organizations over the past 10 years.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, Visiting Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il amid efforts
to bring Pyongyang back to nuclear disarmament talks. China pledged
to strengthen bonds with isolated North Korea, calling their
relationship a boon to peace.
(AFP, 10/5/09)(Reuters, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 5, In Thailand a train
derailed during heavy rains near the coastal city of Hua Hin,
killing 7 people, including a 2-year-old girl, and injuring 88
others. A fact-finding panel later said the deadly crash was the
fault of the driver who fell asleep after taking antihistamines and
other cold medicine.
(AP, 10/5/09)(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 5, Police in Uganda
arrested Idelphonse Nizeyimana, one of the most wanted suspects from
Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The former army captain and senior
intelligence officer and others prepared lists of Tutsi
intellectuals and those in authority before handing the lists to
troops and militia who then killed them.
(Reuters, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 5, A UN agency said
Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger
suffers the lowest, as it released Human Development Index, a
ranking that highlights the wide disparities in well-being between
rich and poor countries.
(AP, 10/5/09)(http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/)
2009 Oct 6, Three Americans
whose research in the 1960s laid the foundation for digital images
and lightning-fast communication shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in
physics for their work developing fiber-optic cable and the sensor
at the heart of digital cameras. Charles K. Kao (75) was cited for
discovering how to transmit light signals over long distances
through glass fibers as thin as a human hair. His 1966 breakthrough
led to the creation of modern fiber-optic communication networks.
Willard S. Boyle (85) and George E. Smith (79) were honored for
inventing the eye of the digital camera.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said the Spitzer Space Telescope has
discovered the biggest but never-before-seen ring around the planet
Saturn. The diffuse ring doesn't reflect much visible light and is
so huge it would take 1 billion Earths to fill it.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, The city council of
Oakland, Ca., succumbed to public pressure and rolled back
parking meter enforcement from 8 p.m. to 6 p.m. The rule had gone
into effect 3 months earlier.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 6, Afghan forces also
killed eight militants in two separate battles in Zabul and Wardak
provinces.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, Australia's central
bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by a quarter point, becoming
the first major economy to increase the cost of borrowing amid signs
its recovery from the global slump is gaining momentum.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Hilary Mantel won
the 2009 Man Booker Prize for her historical novel “Wolf Hall.” It
covered the period Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and
marriage to Anne Boleyn.
(Econ, 10/10/09,
p.89)(www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1291)
2009 Oct 6, In London the play
“The Power of Yes,” written by Sir David Hare, opened at the Royal
National Theater.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.90)
2009 Oct 6, Chechnya's
Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov won a defamation lawsuit
against a rights activist who blamed him for the killing of a
colleague whose murder sparked international outrage. Moscow's
Tverskoi district court ordered Memorial rights group chairman Oleg
Orlov to retract his statement that Kadyrov was responsible for
Natalya Estemirova's death in 2006. Kadyrov sought 10 million rubles
($330,000) in damages, but judge Tatyana Fedosova ruled that
Memorial and Orlov should only pay 70,000 rubles ($2,300 rubles).
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Iraq a car bomb
blew up in front of a restaurant near Fallujah and killed 9 people
with dozens more wounded.
(SFC, 10/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 6, In Ireland the Rev.
Aengus Finucane (77), a Roman Catholic missionary, died. He braved
the civil war in Biafra (1967-1970) as a pioneer of Irish aid
efforts worldwide. That aid effort, initially known as Concern
Africa, shortened its name to Concern in 1970 as it gained ambitions
to provide food, medical support and education in many of the
world's poorest countries. He served as the charity's chief
executive from 1981 to 1997.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Israeli police
mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure volatile
Jerusalem, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fears
that two days of clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Kazakhstan
French President Nicolas Sarkozy scored a diplomatic coup during a
visit, overseeing an agreement to allow military hardware for French
forces fighting in Afghanistan to pass through Kazakh territory and
clinching a raft of lucrative energy deals.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, Mongolia signed a
long-awaited deal with partners Rio Tinto and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines
to develop a $4 billion Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine after a
heated national debate over how to exploit the country's mineral
wealth. In September 2011 members of parliament signed a petition
asking the government to reopen negotiations on the investment
agreement that set the $10 billion project in motion.
(AP,
10/29/09)(www.ivanhoemines.com/s/Home.asp)(Econ, 10/8/11, p.79)
2009 Oct 6, Moroccan police
began rounding up 276 young people and continued with an overnight
crackdown on juvenile delinquency in Sale, the twin town of the
capital Rabat.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Nepal landslides
triggered by 4 days of torrential rains killed at least 34 people in
various western districts.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, The Hamas
government banned motorcycle riders from carrying women on the back
seat, the latest in the militants' virtue campaign in Gaza.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Poland Mariusz
Kaminski, the head of the anti-corruption office, was charged with
abuse of power after a sting operation in which he encouraged his
agents to fabricate documents and offer bribes.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Spain part of
the secrecy surrounding the legal proceedings was lifted, new
revelations came out, including phone conversations that had been
taped by police. Francisco Correa, a Spanish businessman, faced jail
as the alleged kingpin in a network of corruption at the heart of
the country's main opposition group, the rightwing People's party.
(http://tinyurl.com/y9ow6cs)(Econ, 10/31/09,
p.63)
2009 Oct 6, Syria held its
first ever fashion design competition, meant to encourage young
Syrian talents and local products.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 6, Turkish police used
water cannons, tear gas and pepper spray to disperse hundreds of
demonstrators protesting against the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank held in Istanbul.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 6, In Yemen thousands
of activists were reported taking to the streets across the south
calling for independence, even as much of the central government's
army is tied up fighting a Shiite rebellion in the far north.
(AP, 10/6/09)
2009 Oct 7, Venkatraman
Ramakrishnan (57), Indian-born American, Yale Prof. Thomas Steitz
(69) and Israeli Ada Yonath (70)won the 2009 Nobel Prize in
chemistry for atom-by-atom mapping of the protein-making factories
within cells, a feat that has spurred the development of
antibiotics. Their work on ribosomes has been fundamental to the
scientific understanding of life. They will split the 10 million
(US$1.4 million award).
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, The Oakland, Ca.,
City Council approved a BART plan to build a 3.2 mile extension to
the Oakland airport.
(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 7, Irving Penn
(b.1917), American fashion photographer, died in NYC. He began
contributing to Vogue magazine in 1943. His younger brother Arthur
Penn (b.1922) gained renown as a film director and producer.
(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 7, The war in
Afghanistan entered its 9th year. In eastern Afghanistan an
insurgent rocket ripped through a bus on a highway, killing two
people aboard and wounding about 25. A Spanish soldier was killed
when a patrol vehicle drove over a mine near the western town of
Heart. American and Afghan forces battled militants in neighboring
Wardak province, killing a number of insurgents.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, Pedro Elias
Zadunaisky (b.1917), Argentine astronomer and mathematician, died.
His calculations helped determine the orbit of Saturn's outermost
moon, Phoebe, as well as Halley's Comet.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, The first
British-built Honda Jazz auto rolled off the assembly line after
production was switched from Japan in a move the manufacturer hopes
will end a troubled year for the factory.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Colombia machine
gun-firing rebels on motorbikes attacked a prison, springing ELN
guerrilla rebel chief Gustavo Anibal Giraldo. One guard was killed
and another suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the daring midday
raid, which ended with Giraldo fleeing on the back of a motorcycle.
Giraldo was charged with kidnapping two journalists in 2003 on
assignment for the Los Angeles Times. Giraldo was also charged in a
US indictment unsealed in December with the 15-month kidnapping of a
US helicopter mechanic.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Egypt's antiquities
department severed its ties with France's Louvre museum because it
has refused to return what are described as stolen artifacts,
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Iraq a group of
36 Iranian opposition members were returned to Camp Ashraf, after
nearly three months in Iraqi custody and despite an ongoing effort
to expel them. A roadside bomb struck a police patrol in Jalula,
Diyala province, killing three officers. PM Nouri al-Maliki told a
group of business leaders gathered in Baghdad that Iraq's budget was
strained by the number of police and soldiers needed to protect the
country.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, A top Italian court
overturned a law granting Premier Berlusconi immunity from
prosecution while in office. It had been pushed through by
Berlusconi's coalition in 2008 when the premier faced separate
trials in Milan for corruption and tax fraud tied to his Mediaset
broadcasting empire.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 7, Madagascar's
opposing political factions agreed to retain the coup leader as head
of the transitional government, but will not allow him to run in
presidential elections.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Nigeria the
armed Niger Delta militant group MEND dismissed a government amnesty
program as a "charade" and warned it would resume attacks on oil
facilities once its ceasefire expires next week.
(AFP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Yasser Abed Rabbo,
Palestinian adviser to Pres. Abbas, said the Palestinian leadership
made a mistake by suspending action on a UN report on Gaza war
crimes, the first such acknowledgment after days of protests in the
West Bank and Gaza. In an apparent attempt at damage control, Abbas'
government is now backing a request by Libya to convene the UN
Security Council for an emergency session on the report.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, A Saudi court
convicted Mazen Abdul-Jawad for publicly talking about sex after he
bragged on a TV talk show about his exploits, sentencing him to five
years in jail and 1,000 lashes. The program, which aired July 15 on
the Lebanese LBC satellite channel, was seen in Saudi Arabia and
scandalized conservative viewers where such frank talk is rarely
heard in public.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah made his first visit to Syria since becoming monarch, the
strongest indication yet of thawing relations between the two rival
nations following years of tension. The 2-day talks between Abdullah
and Assad focused on the need for Arab solidarity in view of the
numerous challenges facing the Arab world.
(AP, 10/7/09)(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 7, Somali pirates in
two skiffs fired on a French navy vessel after apparently mistaking
it for a commercial boat. The French ship gave chase and captured
five suspected pirates.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 7, In Turkey
protesters hurled firebombs at banks and police and smashed shop
windows in a second day of protests against the International
Monetary Fund.
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 8, Herta Mueller (56)
won the Nobel Prize in literature in an award seen as a nod to the
20th anniversary of communism's collapse. She was member of
Romania's ethnic German minority persecuted for her critical
depictions of life behind the Iron Curtain. She made her debut in
1982 with a collection of short stories titled "Niederungen," or
"Nadirs," depicting the harshness of life in a small,
German-speaking village in Romania. It was promptly censored by the
communist government. Some of her works have been translated into
English, French and Spanish, including "The Passport," "The Land of
Green Plums," "Traveling on One Leg" and "The Appointment."
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, A NYC jury
convicted Anthony Marshall (85), the son of Brooke Astor, of grand
larceny and conspiracy in a scheme to force the socialite to change
her will before she died at age 105 in 2007. Francis Morissey (66),
a lawyer who worked with Marshall, was also convicted of conspiracy
and forgery. On Dec 21 Marshall was sentenced one to three years in
prison.
(SFC, 10/9/09, p.A8)(SFC, 12/22/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 8, In southern
California Damon Thompson (20) was arrested in a UCLA chemistry
building shortly after stabbing a female student in the throat. He
was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and was being held on $1
million bail. The woman underwent surgery for multiple stab wounds
at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and was in stable condition.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Arizona 21
people were taken to area hospitals with illnesses ranging from
dehydration to kidney failure after being overcome while sitting in
a sweat-lodge at the Angel Valley resort in Sedona. Kirby Brown (38)
of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore (40), of Milwaukee died upon
arrival at a hospital. On Oct 17 Liz Neuman (49) from Minnesota died
from multiple organ damage. The lodge was run by self-help guru
James Arthur Ray. On Feb 3, 2010, Ray was arrested on 3 counts of
manslaughter.
(SFC, 10/10/09, p.A4)(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A6)(AP,
10/18/09)(SFC, 2/4/10, p.A6)
2009 Oct 8, Dr. Robert Scott
(65), Oakland, Ca., AIDS specialist, died of a pulmonary embolism.
He founded the AIDS Project of the East Bay in 1983 and later
treated AIDS patients in Zimbabwe.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.D7)
2009 Oct 8, In Afghanistan a
suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside the Indian Embassy
in the bustling center of Kabul, killing 17 people in the second
major attack in the city in less than a month. The Afghan Foreign
Ministry hinted at Pakistani involvement, a charge Pakistan denied.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Britain's postal
workers agreed to launch a nationwide strike after months of rolling
regional strikes over pay and job security. The Communication
Workers Union said that 76% of more than 80,000 union members voted
in favor of the action. The union was required to give seven days
notice before any strike.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Canada Zakaria
Amara (23), described by prosecutors as the leader of a group that
planned al Qaeda-style bombings of Toronto landmarks in 2006,
pleaded guilty to bomb charges, the fifth member of the so-called
"Toronto 18" group to have admitted guilt or to have been found
guilty.
(Reuters, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, Leaders of the
Dominican Republic and Haiti agreed to cooperate in a campaign aimed
at eradicating the last vestiges of malaria from the islands of the
Caribbean by 2020.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, French police
arrested a nuclear physicist in Vienne on suspicion that he had
links to terrorist organizations in Algeria. The man had been
working on analysis projects with the LHCb experiment at CERN since
2003.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, French utility
group GDF Suez said it had signed a contract worth 3.0 billion
dollars (2.0 billion euros) to supply electricity to subsidiaries of
the Chilean electricity company EMEL.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Guatemala a
series of attacks on police in Guatemala City killed two officers
and wounded three.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In India Maoist
rebels killed 17 Indian policemen in the western state of
Maharashtra, the latest in a series of bloody assaults by the
guerrillas.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Indonesia
controversial tycoon Aburizal Bakrie was elected to lead the Golkar
party after the Suharto-era ruling party suffered its biggest
electoral defeat.
(AFP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Italian Premier
Silvio Berlusconi said he will go on TV and appear in courtrooms to
prove that corruption and tax fraud charges in two trials against
him are false.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Typhoon Melor tore
through Japan's main island, peeling roofs off houses, cutting
electricity to hundreds of thousands and forcing flight
cancellations before turning back toward the sea. Two men died.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 8, Former Marshall
Islands president and powerful traditional chief Imata Kabua said he
was challenging the treaty negotiated between the Marshall Islands
government and the US covering the years after 2016 when the current
lease for the missile base expires. The Compact of Free Association
between the two countries approved in 2003 provides the US with use
of the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll until 2066.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 8, In Mexico
unidentified assailants kidnapped and killed the top official of the
border town of Palomas, across from New Mexico. Town Mayor
Estanislao Garcia Santelis had long complained about the drug
traffickers and migrant smugglers active around Palomas. Federal
police detained Jorge Alberto Lopez Orozco (33) on a highway in the
Pacific coast state of Guerrero. He was transported to the
neighboring state of Michoacan and held on a US extradition request.
Orozco was wanted for the 2002 killings of his girlfriend and her
two young sons in Idaho. Gunmen in northern Chihuahua state killed a
soldier in an attack on army vehicles near the hamlet of Colonia
LeBaron. Five men and seven women were detained.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 8, Nigerian officials
said more than 8,000 militants who laid down arms in the troubled
oil hub have so far been registered and that the number could double
when the documentation is complete. The grand total was later
thought to exceed 15,000.
(AFP, 10/8/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.57)
2009 Oct 8, Romania unveiled a
monument in memory of some 300,000 Jews and Gypsies killed during
the Holocaust in the country, which at times denied that the
extermination even happened.
(AP, 10/8/09)
2009 Oct 9, The Nobel Peace
Prize was awarded to US President Barack Obama.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Stephen Pechenik
(78), the president of a San Antonio company, pleaded guilty to
charges that he conspired to receive and sell petroleum stolen from
Mexico's oil giant, Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. He was the 4th
Texas oil executive to plead guilty to felony charges of conspiring
to receive and sell stolen petroleum condensate. Much of the Mexican
oil rustling was traced to the Zetas, a criminal group founded by
former military commandos.
(SFC, 12/15/09,
p.A26)(http://tinyurl.com/yjs42ms)
2009 Oct 9, Playboy magazine
said Marge Simpson, the blue beehived (cartoon) matriarch of
America's most loved dysfunctional family, is Playboy magazine's
November cover.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, NASA smacked two
spacecraft into the lunar south pole in a search for hidden ice.
Instruments confirm that a large empty rocket hull barreled into the
moon at 7:31 a.m., followed four minutes later by a probe with
cameras taking pictures of the first crash.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Afghan and
international forces killed nine Taliban in a firefight in eastern
Wardak province. 2 Polish soldiers were killed when their vehicle
hit a roadside bomb also in Wardak province. Four others were
wounded.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Algeria 10
suspected Islamists and 3 soldiers were killed in a fierce gunbattle
near the Great Erg, the world's largest sand dune, when a convoy of
heavily armed militants was attacked by the Algerian army.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Brazil Wallace
Souza, a former police officer and TV crime show host accused of
commissioning killings to boost ratings, turned himself in to
authorities in Manaus and was jailed on homicide and drug
trafficking charges.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Burkina Faso's
environment minister, at the opening of a special forum on climate
change, said Africa needs 65 billion dollars (44 billion euros) to
deal with the effects of global warming.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Czech Rep. Pres.
Vaclav Klaus set out his terms for signing the Lisbon Treaty,
demanding an exemption to protect Prague from post-war property
claims and safeguard the sovereignty of the judiciary.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the Dominican
Rep. dozens of citizens wearing flip-flops and swim suits and
carrying coolers and surfboards soaked in the sun outside Congress
to protest a proposal they say will limit public access to beaches
and rivers. President Leonel Fernandez and opposition leader Miguel
Vargas Maldonado supported the amendment that guaranteed the right
to private property along beaches and rivers, without giving any
reasons.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Egypt's top Islamic
cleric said that students and teachers will not be allowed to wear
face veils in classrooms and dormitories of Sunni Islam's premier
institute of learning, al-Azhar, part of a government effort to curb
radical Islamic practices.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, France's culture
minister agreed to return painted wall fragments to Egypt after a
row over their ownership prompted the country to cut ties with the
Louvre Museum.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Haiti 11 UN
peacekeepers were killed when a CASA C-212 surveillance flight
slammed into a mountain. The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian
troops serving with the 9,000-strong UN peacekeeping force that has
been in Haiti since 2004.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Hungary
contestants showed off breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts as
Miss Plastic Hungary 2009 strove to promote the benefits of plastic
surgery.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Indonesian police
raided a house near the capital, shooting dead suspected
al-Qaida-linked militants Syaiffudin Djaelani and his brother,
Mohamad Syahrir, wanted in the suicide bombings of luxury hotels in
Jakarta. Djaelani was believed to have recruited two young bombers
for the July 17 strikes on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton.
(AP, 10/9/09)(Reuters, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 9, Amnesty Int’l. said
Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani (37) was the first person to be sentenced
to death in connection with the unrest in Iran following the
disputed June12 elections. He was convicted of “enmity against God”
through membership in a group that seeks the end of the Islamic
Republic and the establishment of a monarchy.
(SFC, 10/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 9, In Iraq Jamal
Humadi, a Sunni cleric who denounced insurgents in Iraq, was killed
north of Baghdad when a bomb tore through his car, the second such
attack against religious officials in as many weeks.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Japanese officials
said they have obtained rights to develop platinum mines in South
Africa and Botswana in a bid to ensure a stable supply of the metal.
The government-backed Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.
(JOGMEC) said it has signed a contract with Discovery Metals in
Australia to jointly develop nickel and platinum mines in northeast
Botswana. It has also inked another deal with Canadian firm Platinum
Group Metals to explore for platinum in South Africa.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Mexico the
mutilated body of state official Rogelio Sanchez, who authorities
said was suspected of giving fake driver's licenses to drug gang
members, was found hanging from a bridge in the border city of
Tijuana. Sanchez was kidnapped Oct 7 as he left his home in Tijuana.
Police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero found the bodies of 10
men, all apparently shot to death. Signs left next to the bodies
read: "This is what is going to happen to all thieves and
extortionists.” In rural western Jalisco state four suspects were
killed and 17 arrested in an hours-long gun battle between members
of a criminal gang and soldiers and police.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, Myanmar's detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was granted a rare meeting with
top Western diplomats to discuss sanctions imposed on the
military-ruled nation.
(AFP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In southeastern
Nigeria some 70-80 people died when a petroleum tanker truck
exploded and set nine other vehicles alight on a road. At least five
minibuses packed with up to 18 passengers each and two cars were
incinerated by the fireball. The truck had toppled and leaked into a
deep pothole and then exploded after a car crashed into it.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Pakistan a
massive suicide car bomb ripped through a packed market in Peshawar,
killing 53 people, including 9 children, and injured over 100. The
government vowed to launch a new offensive in Waziristan in the wake
of the massive bombing.
(AFP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 9, In the northern
Philippines driving rain on the heels of back-to-back storms
triggered dozens of landslides across, burying more than 225 people,
washing away villages and leaving almost an entire province under
water.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Vyacheslav Ivankov
(69), a Russian crime boss who spent nearly 10 years in a US prison,
died in a Moscow hospital, two months after being shot several times
coming out of a restaurant on July 28. He was arrested by the FBI in
1995 and convicted of trying to extort millions of dollars from an
investment firm run by Russian emigres in New York. He was
extradited to Russia from the US in 2004 to face murder charges, but
was acquitted.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Somalia an
Islamist spokesman says gunmen have killed Ahmed Abdurahamn Odawa,
aka "Taliban," a senior member of Somalia's insurgency in Mogadishu.
Odawa's bodyguard and a nearby civilian were also killed. Three
people were killed and six injured in a separate incident in the
central Somali village of Bacda. 6 masked men used machetes to carry
out amputations on three young men accused of robbery by a Somali
Islamist court in Kismayo.
(AP, 10/9/09)(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, Jacques Chessex
(b.1934), one of French-speaking Switzerland's leading novelists and
the first non-Frenchman to receive the prestigious Prix Goncourt,
died. He was honored in 1973 with the Prix Goncourt literary award
for his novel "L'ogre" ("The Ogre"), a largely autobiographical
account of a difficult father-son relationship.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 9, The US Peace Corps’
country director in Turkmenistan said the Central Asian nation has
denied entry to 47 Peace Corps volunteers. A diplomatic note from
the embassy said that they would be invited next year, but not for
this year.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, In Vietnam a judge
in Haiphong sentenced 9 activists up to six years for hanging
democracy banners and other acts against the state, prompting tears
and condemnation from relatives. Some of the activists were linked
to an outlawed pro-democracy grouping called Bloc 8406. Nguyen Xuan
Nghia (60), the alleged leader of six activists, received the
heaviest penalty of six years in prison followed by three years of
house arrest.
(AFP, 10/9/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.55)
2009 Oct 10, Christy Harp of
Jackson township, Ohio, won the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers
annual weigh-off with a world record 1,725-pound Atlantic giant
pumpkin.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 10, In Idaho a bus
carrying a high school marching band went off of I-15 killing one
adult and injuring several students.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A9)
2009 Oct 10, In Louisiana 2
Cessna 150s, each carrying 2 people, collided near Pineville
Regional Airport, killing 2 and injuring 2.
(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 10, In Afghanistan a
roadside bomb killed the district police chief and district governor
of Shah Khil in Paktika province. A US service member died of wounds
suffered in a bombing in southern Afghanistan. In Helmand province
the Afghan army killed four insurgents in Garmser district. In
eastern Khost province, a police car was struck by a roadside bomb
but none of its passengers was injured. However, shrapnel also hit a
nearby car, killing a 12-year-old girl and wounding three other
civilians.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)(AP, 10/10/09)(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Argentina's Senate
overwhelmingly approved a law that transformed the nation's media
landscape. President Cristina Kirchner said she would sign it
immediately. The new law preserved two-thirds of the radio and TV
spectrum for noncommercial stations, and required channels to use
more Argentine content. It also forced Grupo Clarin, the country's
leading media company, to sell off many of its properties.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Armenia and Turkey
signed a deal in Switzerland to establish diplomatic ties ending a
century of enmity. To take effect, the agreements must be ratified
by the Turkish and Armenian parliaments, but it faced stiff
opposition in both countries.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, British police in
fluorescent jackets stood between hundreds of anti-Islam protesters
and anti-racist counter-demonstrators in Manchester, arresting 48
people in a bid to keep the peace.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, In Cambodia an
overloaded river ferry capsized on its way to a Buddhist ceremony in
Kratie province, killing 17 passengers in a tributary of the Mekong
River.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, China, Japan and
South Korea held a 3-way summit in Beijing.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.43)
2009 Oct 10, A Chinese court
sentenced a man to death for his role in the June 26 toy factory
brawl that sparked riots in western Xinjiang region that left almost
200 dead. Xinhua News said Xiao Jianhua was given death and Xu Qiqi
was given life in prison on charges of intentionally harming others.
Their names suggest they are members of the Han majority.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Ethiopian PM Meles
Zenawi accused Eritrea of sowing havoc in the region as Addis Ababa
reiterated calls for sanctions over Asmara's alleged support for
Somalia's rebels.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, The French
military fired on pirates in the Indian Ocean to protect two tuna
fishing vessels.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, In Guatemala City
gunmen opened fire on a patrol car killing one police officer and
wounding 3 others. Assailants attacked another squad car hours later
in the capital, wounding three officers.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 10, Honduras' interim
leaders put in place new rules that threatened broadcasters with
closure for airing reports that "attack national security," further
restricting media freedom following the closure of two opposition
stations.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Iran’s ISNA
news agency reported that 3 defendants in the mass trial of
opposition figures accused of fueling the country's postelection
unrest have been sentenced to death. Two of them were convicted of
membership in a monarchist group seeking to topple Iran's Islamic
Republic and restore a monarchy. A third defendant was convicted of
having ties to a terrorist group for his alleged links to the
People's Mujahedeen.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, It was reported
that local Iraqi authorities have outlawed alcohol in the province
of Najaf, home to the holiest Shiite city, saying it contradicts the
principles of Islam. The Najaf provincial council's decision
followed a similar measure taken in August by authorities in Basra.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Japan said it has
suspended beef shipments from an American meatpacking plant after
finding cattle parts banned under an agreement to prevent the spread
of mad cow disease. The suspension only affected Tyson's factory in
Lexington, Nebraska, one of 46 meatpacking plants approved to export
beef to Japan.
(AP, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Madagascar's
outgoing prime minister refused to quit, endangering a power-sharing
agreement brokered by mediators to keep peace on the island. Monja
Roindefo said he does not acknowledge the mediators' appointment on
Oct 6 of Eugene Mangalaza as a prime minister in the transitional
government. Members of the transitional government confirmed Eugene
Mangalaza.
(AP, 10/10/09)(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Mexico’s President
Felipe Calderon dispatched over 1,000 federal policemen to occupy
the offices of Luz y Fuerza del Centro, the state-owned electricity
distributor for Mexico City and its surroundings. The Federal
Electricity Commission, which provides service to the rest of the
country, took over for Luz y Fuerza, which had been established in
1994 by presidential decree. The company’s fat salaries and pensions
cost the government some $3 billion a year and lost 30% of its power
thru illicit connections and technical failures.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.50)
2009 Oct 10, In Pakistan 5
militants took hostages after they and about four other assailants
attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, killing six soldiers,
including a brigadier and a lieutenant colonel.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 10, Polish President
Lech Kaczynski signed the EU’s reform treaty, the Lisbon Treaty,
into law, leaving the Czech Republic as the only country still to
ratify the document.
(Reuters, 10/10/09)
2009 Oct 10, Stephen Gately
(33), a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone, died while visiting
Spain’s island of Mallorca. He made headlines a decade ago when he
came out as gay. An autopsy revealed that he died of excess fluid in
his lungs due to acute pulmonary edema.
(AP, 10/11/09)(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 10, Zimbabwe's central
bank chief said the government has frozen Nestle's local accounts
and ordered an audit after Nestle stopped buying milk from a farm
owned by President Robert Mugabe's wife.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Thousands of gay
and lesbian activists marched from the White House to the Capitol,
demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow
gays to serve openly in the military and allow same-sex marriages.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Afghan and US
forces killed 16 insurgents in an overnight operation in eastern
Kunar province.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In eastern
Bangladesh Rasu Miah (40), who was being questioned about a theft,
surprised a court by confessing to killing 11 women in the past
three years after a woman refused to marry him. Miah told a
magistrate in his home town of Chandpur that 15 years ago he decided
to kill at least 101 women after a woman he loved refused to marry
him.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Brazil an
intense fire broke out in a slum in Sao Paulo, South America's
largest city, sending residents running across rooftops to escape
the flames.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, Alan Peters (76),
British master furniture maker, died.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.80)
2009 Oct 11, Chinese state
media reported that more than 50,000 people in southern Guangdong
province are suffering from water shortages as a spreading drought
has left farmers' fields dry and cracked.
(AFP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Iraq a series
of bombings killed at least 19 people and wounded 60 in Ramadi,
Anbar province.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, The Irish National
Liberation Army (INLA), an IRA splinter group responsible for some
of the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict,
renounced violence and signaled it could hand over weapons soon to
disarmament officials.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pakistani
commandos freed dozens of hostages held by militants at the army's
own headquarters in Rawalpindi, ending a bloody, 22-hour drama that
embarrassed the nation's military as it plans a new offensive
against al-Qaida and the Taliban. The standoff killed 23 people
including 9 militants and 14 others. 42 hostages were freed. The
military launched two airstrikes on suspected militant targets in
South Waziristan, ending a five day lull in attacks there and
killing at least five militants. In 2011 a military court found
seven men guilty of involvement in the Rawalpindi attack and
sentenced one of them, a retired soldier, to death.
(AP, 10/11/09)(AP, 10/12/09)(AP, 8/13/11)
2009 Oct 11, In the southern
Philippines 6 gunmen, believed to be Islamic militants, kidnapped
Michael Sinnott, a 78-year-old Irish priest near Pagadian. They
later demanded $2 million for his release. Sinnott was freed on Nov
12. Irish and Filipino authorities said neither country paid any of
the kidnappers' $2 million ransom demand.
(AFP, 10/11/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Oct 11, The United Russia
party won an overwhelming victory in more than 7,000 local elections
in 75 of Russia's 83 regions. In Moscow, the party won all but three
seats on the 35-member city council. United Russia served as a power
base for PM Vladimir Putin, who has not ruled out a return to the
presidency in 2012.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 11, The Russian Soyuz
capsule carrying Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and two
other space travelers landed safely in Kazakhstan, ending the
entertainment tycoon's mirthful space odyssey.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Four Sudanese who
face the death penalty for killing a US diplomat dismissed their
defense team, denounced the trial as political and labeled the
United States murderers of Muslims. John Granville (33), who worked
for the US Agency for International Development, and his driver,
Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama (39), were killed Jan 1, 2008.
(Reuters, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Thailand
thousands of supporters of deposed PM Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red
shirts, rallied in Bangkok to demand the government step down and
call fresh elections.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Turkish PM Erdogan
called on Armenia to withdraw from the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that a deal to establish diplomatic ties,
signed a day earlier, cannot come into force until that happens.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, Pope Benedict XVI
canonized five new saints, including Father Damien, a 19th-century
priest who worked with leprosy patients on a Hawaiian island;
Zygmunt Szcezesny Felinski, a 19th-century Polish bishop who
defended the Catholic faith during the years of the Russian
annexation; Spaniards Francisco Coll y Guitart, who founded an order
of Dominicans in the 19th century, and Rafael Arniaz Baron, who
renounced an affluent lifestyle at age 22 to live a humble life in a
strict monastery and dedicate himself to prayer; and Jeanne Jugan
(d.1879), a French nun, who helped found the Little Sisters of the
Poor.
(AP, 10/11/09)
2009 Oct 11, In Venezuela 12
men were kidnapped from a field where they were playing soccer. On
Oct 25 the bodies of 10 of the men, most of them Colombians, were
found with multiple spots in western Tachira state. A single
survivor, Manuel Cortez (19) of Colombia, was shot in the neck.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 12, Americans Elinor
Ostrom (b.1933) and Oliver Williamson (b.1932) won the Nobel
economics prize for their work in economic governance. Ostrom, the
first woman to win the Nobel prize for economics, specialized in the
study of common resource pools.
(AP, 10/12/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.92)
2009 Oct 12, Don Young of Des
Moines, Iowa, won the 39th Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
with his 1,658-pound pumpkin. It broke the year-old record of 1,528
pounds. His first prize of $9,948 came out to $6 per pound. The
world record had just been set on Oct 10 in Ohio by a 1,725-pound
Atlantic giant pumpkin.
(SFC, 10/13/09, p.C1)(SSFC, 10/11/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 12, In SF Eric
Buschman (49) was stabbed to death on the 300 block of Athens Street
in the Excelsior District. On Oct 22 police arrested Charlie
Fonilloa Sekona (20), man who had been put into a mental health
program for assaulting a Costco worker, as a suspect. Police
believed the stabbing was random.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 12, Afghanistan's
election watchdog changed its fraud-tallying rules for the second
time in less than a week, switching back to a formula that lowers
the chance of overturning President Hamid Karzai's first-round win.
Under the new rules the commission will not take into account which
candidate it finds benefited most from any fraud. One of the two
Afghans on the UN-backed commission looking into vote fraud in the
August presidential election resigned, citing interference by
foreigners.
(Reuters, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Britain’s PM
Gordon Brown announced on Monday a 16-billion-pound sale of state
assets including a rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel
to cut soaring debt caused by economic crisis.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, A court in China's
far western Xinjiang region sentenced six men to death for murder
and other crimes committed during ethnic riots that killed nearly
200 people. A seventh man was given life imprisonment.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Yoani Sanchez, a
Cuban blogger, was denied government permission to travel to New
York to receive a top journalism prize. She has become an
international sensation for offering frank criticism of her
country's communist system. In May Cuban authorities had denied
Sanchez permission to fly to Madrid to accept the Ortega y Gasset
Prize in digital journalism for creating her Generation Y blog
(2007), which gets more than 1 million hits a month. Around the same
time, Time magazine deemed Sanchez one of the world's 100 most
influential people.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Gabon's
constitutional court said Ali Bongo, the son of the country's
longtime dictator, won the Aug. 30 presidential elections that
opposition candidates said were fraudulent.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Italy Mohamed
Game (35), a Libyan, hurled a home-made bomb at the Santa Barbara
police barracks in Milan, losing his hand from the blast and
slightly wounding a policeman on duty outside. Game had lived in
Italy since 2003 and had never been a suspect. Italian police
detained two more suspects and found a large quantity of bomb-making
chemicals during overnight searches.
(AFP, 10/12/09)(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, North Korea
test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast and banned
ships from the area from October 10-20.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Pakistan a
teenage suicide car bombing targeting troops killed 45 people,
including 6 security people, in northwest Shangla district as
the Taliban pledged to mobilize fighters across the country for more
strikes.
(AP, 10/12/09)(Econ, 10/17/09, p.34)
2009 Oct 12, Russian PM
Vladimir Putin landed in China in an effort to bolster energy,
political and military ties between the former rival nations turned
strategic partners.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Senegal cyclist
Frank Vandenbroucke (34) was on holiday when he was found dead in
his room. Belgian cycling officials said his death was caused by a
lung embolism. Vandenbroucke won the weeklong Paris-Nice spring race
in 1998 and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic a year later before his
career was marred by a doping scandal.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 12, A Sudanese court
sentenced 4 Islamists to death for a 2nd time for the murder of a US
diplomat John Granville and his driver in Khartoum last year. The
sentencing came after the mother of John Granville, who worked with
the US Agency for Int’l. Development (USAID), and the wife of driver
Abdel Rahman Abbas both demanded the men be executed.
(AFP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, Syria's Pres.
Bashar Assad issued a decree banning smoking in public places,
joining an anti-smoking trend already under way in other Arab
countries. The decree will go into effect in six months and ban
smoking in restaurants, cafes, cinemas, theaters, schools, official
functions and on public transport. Offenders will be fined 2,000
Syrian pounds, about $45.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, The United Arab
Emirates' highest court convicted an American citizen on
terrorism-related charges amid claims that torture was used to
extract a confession. The court sentenced Naji Hamdan (43) to 18
months in prison, but he should be freed soon because the sentence
counts time served and he was detained last year. Hamdan was
arrested in the UAE in August 2008 and charged in June 2009 with
supporting terrorism, working with terrorist organizations and being
a member of a terrorist group.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 12, In Venezuela
thousands of people congregated for candlelit rituals on a remote
mountainside where adherents make an annual pilgrimage to pay homage
to an indigenous goddess known as Maria Lionza. The traditions,
hundreds of years old, draw on elements of the Afro-Caribbean
religion Santeria and indigenous rituals, as well as Catholicism.
Believers often ask for spiritual healing or protection from
witchcraft, or thank the goddess for curing an illness.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 12, Nestle said its
Zimbabwe banking is back to normal just days after newspapers
reported that the government froze their accounts and ordered an
audit after the company stopped buying milk from a farm owned by
President Robert Mugabe's wife.
(AP, 10/12/09)
2009 Oct 13, It was reported
that the FBI has begun using facial-recognition technology on
millions of motorists comparing driver’s license photos with
pictures of convicts. The project in North Carolina had already
helped nab at least one suspect.
(SFC, 10/13/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 13, The Missouri Dept.
of Revenue sent letters to 140 yoga and Pilates telling them they
must collect sales tax on fees for their classes and services.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 13, American
International Group said it would sell its Taiwan unit for 2.15
billion US dollars as the insurance giant raised money to pay off a
huge US government bail-out loan.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Record one-day
rain fell in the SF Bay area with 2.64 inches recorded in San
Francisco. It was the worst October storm since 1962 and knocked out
power for 193,000.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 13, Montana wildlife
commissioners shut down gray wolf hunting in backcountry adjacent to
Yellowstone National Park after 9 wolves were killed in recent
weeks. The statewide quota was kept at 75.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 13, In Ohio a woman
being driven around in a rented limousine pulled up at a Burlington
coat store and announced she'd won the lottery and would pay for
everyone's purchases. Linda Brown (44) ended up causing a riot when
customers realized it was a hoax. When the limousine driver realized
he wasn't going to be paid the $900 Brown owed him for the day's
rental, he turned her in to police.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 13, China and Russia
signed a framework agreement that could see a steady flow of natural
gas to energy-hungry China from its resource-rich neighbor.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, China’s Xinhua
state news agency said 968 children in central China have tested
positive for lead poisoning in the latest environmental scandal to
erupt in the nation's smelting industry. Residents in Jiyuan city,
Henan province, had protested over pollution from three local
smelters last month.
(AFP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Activists from
Congo, Rene Ngongo (48), and New Zealand, Alyn Ware (47), and an
Ethiopia-based doctor from Australia, Catherine Hamlin (85), won the
Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "alternative Nobel," for
work to protect rain forests, improve women's health and rid the
world of nuclear weapons. The honorary part of the award, without
prize money, went to Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki (73) for
raising awareness of climate change. Each will receive euro50,000
(US$74,000).
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A report by a
coalition of 84 organizations said more than 1,000 civilians have
been killed and nearly 900,000 displaced in eastern Congo by Rwandan
Hutu militiamen and Congolese forces since January.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, French soldiers in
the Indian Ocean opened fire on pirates, warding off an attack on
two French tuna fishing vessels off the Seychelles Islands.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A German court
convicted two men of supporting a radical Islamic group with links
to al-Qaida and sentenced them to prison terms. It sentenced Omid
Shirkhani, a German of Afghan background, to two years and nine
months in prison; and co-defendant Huseyin Ozgun, a Turk, to a year
and two months. The court found that both had links to Adem Yilmaz,
a Turk living in Germany who is currently on trial over plans to
attack US targets in Germany.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Guinea's military
government said it has signed a $7 billion mining agreement with a
Chinese company. Guinea is the world's largest producer of bauxite,
the raw material used to make aluminum, and also produces diamonds
and gold. The Hong Kong-based syndicate, China Int’l. Fund or China
Sonangol, transferred $100 million to the cash-strapped junta.
(AP, 10/13/09)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.23)
2009 Oct 13, Iraqi lawmakers
approved the return of a limited number of British troops to Iraq to
help protect the country's southern oil ports, an area where Iraq is
lagging in its ability to provide security. The Iraqi Human Rights
Ministry released a report as part of a larger study on the
country's human rights situation, saying 85,694 people were killed
from 2004-08, and 147,195 were wounded during the same period that
followed the US-led invasion. UNESCO said drought has forced more
than 100,000 people in northern Iraq to abandon their homes since
2005, with 36,000 more on the verge of leaving.
(AP, 10/13/09)(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 13, Rev. Franklin
Graham, the son of veteran US evangelist Billy Graham, arrived in
North Korea to deliver aid to the impoverished country more than six
months after the isolated regime kicked out all American
humanitarian groups. Franklin Graham served as the head of the Billy
Graham Evangelistic Association and the aid agency Samaritan's
Purse, which have provided more than $10 million in aid to the North
since 1997.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Pakistani jets
bombed militant targets in the main insurgent stronghold along the
Afghan border ahead of an expected ground offensive there.
Helicopter gunship attacks killed 26 insurgents in Bajur. Terrorists
fired 31 rockets" at a convoy of security forces in South
Waziristan.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party accepted Egypt's plan for
separate signings of a reconciliation deal with Hamas after the
Islamist group balked at attending a unity ceremony.
(Reuters, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, A rocket fired by
Palestinian militants hit southern Israel.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 13, Romania's
government fell in a confidence vote in Parliament. Lawmakers said
it failed to improve the economy after going into recession
following 3 years of growth. A total of 254 parliamentary deputies
and senators voted to oust PM Emil Boc, more than the 236 needed,
and 176 voted against. Under the constitution it was up to Pres.
Traian Basescu to name a new prime minister.
(AP, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 13, In Saudi Arabia a
shootout between Saudi security forces and al-Qaida militants near,
two of whom were disguised as women and wearing explosives belts,
left two of the militants and a soldier dead near the southern Yemen
border. One of the assailants, Abdullah Hassan Tali Assiri, was
captured. The two al-Qaida militants killed were planning to carry
out a massive attack. 6 Yemeni accomplices. who were coordinating
with the two militants, Youssef al-Shihri and Raed al-Harbi, were
later arrested.
(AP, 10/14/09)(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 13, In South Africa
police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, wounding several
protesters demanding better sanitation, electricity and housing in
impoverished black townships. Tires burned and rubbish littered the
streets of Standerton, 150 km (90 miles) south-east of Johannesburg,
and shops were closed after thousands of people marched on the
municipal offices in the town from nearby Sakhile township.
(Reuters, 10/13/09)
2009 Oct 14, President Barack
Obama called for a second round of $250 stimulus payments for
seniors, veterans, retired railroad workers and people with
disabilities. The payments would be equal to about a 2% increase for
the average Social Security recipient, who will not receive a cost
of living increase next year. Obama visited New Orleans and listened
to continued fallout from Hurricane Katrina.
(AP, 10/15/09)(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A16)
2009 Oct 14, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton wrapped up a European tour by calling on
Russia to uphold human rights and prevent attacks on activists who
challenge the Kremlin.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, The IRS filed a
lien with the Alameda County recorder’s office naming Oakland, Ca.,
Mayor Ron Dellums (73), who failed to pay taxes over a 3-year
period. A lien was also filed in Washington, DC, on Oct 22, where
Dellums and his wife owned a house in the Foxhall Crescent
neighborhood.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 14, In San Francisco a
Safeway truck flopped across 4 lanes of the upper Bay Bridge at the
new s-curve, tying up traffic for hours. The CHP had already logged
20 accidents eastbound on the curve and 8 accidents westbound since
it opened on Sep 8.
(SFC, 10/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 14, Bruce Wasserstein
(b.1947), CEO of Lazard Lt., died. He took Lazard Freres. & Co.
public (2005) and became CEO of the company in May 2005.
(SFC, 10/15/09,
p.C2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Wasserstein)
2009 Oct 14, Armenian President
Serzh Sarkisian arrived in Turkey to attend a World Cup football
game as the two nations pressed ahead with painstaking efforts to
overcome a bloody history.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, British PM Gordon
Brown ordered hundreds more troops to Afghanistan, pledging to
bolster the international effort on the condition that Britain's
allies also do their fair share to support the war effort. He said
Britain's overall contribution would rise to 9,500 troops, an
increase of about 500.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A security summit
between China, Russia and their Central Asian neighbors wrapped up
in Beijing with vague promises to deepen economic cooperation but no
public mention of regional flashpoints like Afghanistan.
(Reuters, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A hot air balloon
crashed in a southern Chinese resort town with dramatic limestone
formations, killing four Dutch tourists.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, The Democratic
Republic of Congo said it had agreed with Angola to halt tit-for-tat
expulsions of each other's citizens as victims told of being
subjected to brutal rapes and lootings when they were thrown out by
Luanda.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Iraq a
government spokesman said the PM has suspended classes and banned
political activities at one of Baghdad's leading universities
following student protests on campus. Attacks took place in Baghdad
and the holy Shiite city of Karbala, where three bombs exploded near
simultaneously. At least 12 people were killed and more than 50
wounded.
(AP, 10/14/09)(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 14, Israeli military
aircraft struck two smuggling tunnels along the Gaza Strip border in
response to a rocket fired by Palestinian militants the previous
day. Gaza health officials said four people were slightly injured in
the attack.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Israel's foreign
minister has ordered ministry officials to summon Turkey's
ambassador in Israel and protest to him over a Turkish TV series
that reportedly portrays Israeli soldiers murdering children.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Mexico’s Supreme
Court ruled that the governor of southern Oaxaca state is
responsible for rights abuses during 2006 protests that paralyzed
Oaxaca and left least a dozen people dead.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Pakistani jets
pounded suspected militant hide-outs along the Afghan border.
Officials said some 200,000 civilians have fled South Waziristan in
anticipation of an expected military offensive. Estimates of the
population there hover around 500,000.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Paraguay human
rights activists gained access to a dictatorship-era military
archive that appears to contain long-held secrets about Paraguay's
persecution of opponents during Alfredo Stroessner's 1954-1989 rule.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, In Puerto Rico
labor unions called for an island-wide strike and a march near the
capital to protest government layoffs in Puerto Rico, where more
than 20,000 public employees have been dismissed as the island
struggles to pull out of a three-year recession.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 14, In South Korea
Rev. Sun Myung Moon (89) married thousands of couples in the
Unification Church's largest mass wedding in a decade and
potentially the last for the leader. More than 20,000 people
gathered at Sun Moon University campus in Asan, south of Seoul, for
the "blessing ceremony" while some 20,000 more joined simultaneous
ceremonies in the US, Brazil, Australia and elsewhere. The spectacle
came as Moon, the church's controversial founder, moved to hand
day-to-day leadership over to his 3 sons and daughter.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, Dozens of Russian
lawmakers staged a rare walkout from parliament to protest what they
and independent monitors describe as rigged local elections across
Russia.
(AP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, It was reported
that Swiss researchers have found that Alpine glaciers melting under
the impact of climate change are releasing highly toxic pollutants
that had been absorbed by the ice for decades.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 14, A Zimbabwe court
ordered ministerial nominee Roy Bennett, a close aide to PM Morgan
Tsvangirai, back to jail until his terrorism trial begins next week.
Bennett was accused of possessing arms for the purposes of banditry,
terrorism and inciting acts of insurgency.
(AFP, 10/14/09)
2009 Oct 15, Pres. Obama
visited San Francisco for a Democratic Party fundraiser.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 15, Prosecutors in San
Francisco filed a mail-fraud charge against Roberto Heckscher (55),
owner of Irving Bookkeeping and Taxes on Irving Street, alleging
that he began operating a Ponzi scheme in 1979 that defrauded
investors of over $20 million.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.D4)
2009 Oct 15, In Colorado the
flight of a home-made helium balloon touched off a frantic rescue
attempt for the young boy thought to be aboard. It was later
determined to have been a publicity-seeking hoax. On Nov 13 parents
Richard and Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to charges related to the
hoax. In late December a judge sentenced Richard Heene to 90 days in
jail, including 60 days of work release that will let him pursue
work as a construction contractor while doing his time. Mayumi Heene
was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
(Reuters, 10/19/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A8)(AP,
12/23/09)(SFC, 12/24/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 15, A US warship
seized about four tons of hashish being transported aboard a boat
off the Horn of Africa. The guided missile cruiser USS Anzio stopped
the skiff after a brief chase in the Gulf of Aden.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 15, Colleen R. LaRose
(46), a self-described "Jihad Jane," was arrested in Philadelphia.
LaRose was later accused, in an indictment filed March 9, 2010, of
actively recruiting fighters, as well as agreeing to murder Swedish
artist Lars Vilks, marry a terrorism suspect so he could move to
Europe and martyr herself if necessary.
(AP, 3/10/10)
2009 Oct 15, Two F-16 planes
collided around 8:30 p.m. about 40 miles off Folly Beach, near
Charleston, SC. One jet, piloted by Capt. Lee Bryant, landed safely
at Charleston Air Force Base. The missing plane was piloted by Capt.
Nicholas Giglio.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Google Inc. said
it is launching a new online service for booksellers next year
called Google Editions, which will let readers buy books and read
them on gadgets ranging from cell phones to possibly e-book devices.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, It was reported
that the Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now
connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global
Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global
infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing US network links
with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.
(www.livescience.com/technology/091015-global-gloraid-taj-cyber-net.html)
2009 Oct 15, In Palo Alto, Ca.,
the body of Jennifer Schipsi (29) was found in a rented cottage on
the 900 block of Addison Ave. Bulos “Paul” Zumot (36), her
on-and-off boyfriend was arrested on Oct 19 on charges of murder and
setting a fire to cover the slaying.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.D4)
2009 Oct 15, In southern
Afghanistan 4 American troops died in a bombing, as a UN-backed
panel completed most of its investigation into whether the level of
fraud in the August presidential election would require a runoff.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, The far-right
British National Party agreed to change its constitution to let
nonwhite people become members.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, China’s Premier
Wen Jiabao said that China intends to strengthen its cooperation
with Iran, an indication Beijing would oppose growing calls in the
West for additional sanctions against the Islamic regime for its
nuclear program.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A Chinese court
handed out a further three death sentences to people convicted of
violent crimes during ethnic rioting in far western Xinjiang region
in July in which almost 200 people died. The court also sentenced
three defendants to suspended death sentences, which could be
commuted to life sentences in two years. At least two of those
sentenced were Han Chinese. The others all appeared to be Uighurs.
(Reuters, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Top EU and South
Korean trade officials signed a free trade deal which the EU said
could boost trade between the two by euro19 billion ($28 billion).
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, A French court
turned down a bid by Fabienne Justel, a 39-year-old widow, to
retrieve her late husband's frozen sperm in order to have his child
by insemination in another country. A French law prohibited
post-mortem insemination.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Iraq’s PM Nouri
al-Maliki warned Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stop conducting
military operations across Iraq's northern border targeting Kurdish
rebels and stressed that Iraq's sovereignty can not be violated. The
two met in Baghdad and were to sign agreements boosting economic
ties between their countries. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army
patrol in Baghdad, killing one Iraqi soldier.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Italy and NATO
denied a newspaper report that the Italian intelligence secretly
paid the Taliban thousands of dollars to maintain peace in an area
in Afghanistan that was under Italian control. The Times of London
had just reported that Italy had paid "tens of thousands of dollars"
to Taliban commanders and warlords in the Surobi district. It
accused Rome of failing to inform its allies about the payments and
of misleading the French, who took over the Surobi district in
mid-2008, into thinking the area was quiet and safe. An ambush of
the French in a mountain pass on Aug. 18, 2008, was the biggest
single combat loss for international forces in Afghanistan in more
than three years.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Libya freed 88
Islamists with Al-Qaeda links from Abu Slim prison in Tripoli.
Lawyers said "45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)
and 43 members of other jihadist groups were freed thanks to the
efforts of the Islamic Foundation," in a joint statement with the
Foundation, headed by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif
al-Islam.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Mexico some
33,000 people marched to protest President Felipe Calderon's weekend
decision to disband Luz y Fuerza, a public electricity company that
provided electricity to Mexico City and the surrounding area. Police
officers found the decapitated bodies of 9 men in an abandoned
pickup truck on a highway in the drug-plagued Mexican state of
Guerrero.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria’s central
bank said ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar is among more than 600
debtors owing five troubled banks some 450 billion naira (2.96
billion dollars, 2 billion euros). Abubakar, who was deputy to
former president Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), owed Spring Bank
111.15 million naira (731,490 dollars, 491,592 euros). The CBN also
listed billionaire tycoon Aliko Dangote (52) and Mohammed Buba
Marwa, Nigeria's ambassador to South Africa, as major debtors.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Nigeria's most
high-profile armed group MEND threatened to resume attacks on the
country's oil sector when a unilateral ceasefire lapses at midnight.
(AFP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Pakistan teams
of gunmen launched coordinated attacks on three law enforcement
facilities in the eastern city of Lahore killing 18 people including
11 insurgents. A car bombs hit northwest Kohat killing 11 people,
including 3 police officers and 8 civilians. Another car bomb in
Peshawar killed 10 people, mostly women and children. A total of 39
people were killed in the escalating wave of anti-government
violence. A suspected US missile strike killed 4 alleged militants.
(AP, 10/15/09)(SFC, 10/15/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 15, In Paraguay Fidel
Zavala, a wealthy rancher, was kidnapped by the guerrilla group,
known as the EPP for its initials in Spanish. It soon demanded $5
million for his release, purportedly to finance what the band calls
a revolutionary movement for the poor. Zavala was released following
a ransom payment after 94 days.
(AP, 1/12/10)(Econ, 5/15/10, p.42)
2009 Oct 15, A Philippine
military tribunal acquitted 11 officers of plotting a foiled Feb,
2006, coup against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, In Puerto Rico
thousands of demonstrators swarmed the financial hub of San Juan,
blocking highways and setting fires in the streets of the capital to
protest massive layoffs of government workers. Gov. Luis Fortuno has
said the dismissal of more than 20,000 public employees was
necessary to close a $3.2 billion deficit and pull the economy out
of a 3-year recession.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, South African
police fired rubber bullets at residents in Diepsloot, a poor
settlement north of Johannesburg, injuring 19 people protesting poor
living standards. The protests have spread from Standerton, about 90
miles (150km) southeast of Johannesburg, to at least four other
towns in eastern South Africa this week.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, The Syrian-based
leadership of the militant Palestinian Hamas said it has rejected an
Egyptian-mediated proposal to reconcile with the rival Fatah group.
Hamas and seven other Damascus-based Palestinian factions issued a
joint statement saying the reconciliation plan must be revised to
include a reference to the Palestinian right to resist Israeli
occupation.
(AP, 10/15/09)
2009 Oct 15, Turkish police
detained over 30 suspects allegedly linked to Al-Qaida, saying they
were planning to stage attacks on NATO facilities as well as US and
Israeli missions.
(SFC, 10/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 16, President Barack
Obama signed a 7.5 billion dollar aid package for Pakistan after the
US Congress acted to placate critics in the strife-torn nation who
warned it violated Pakistani sovereignty. The aid legislation
insisted that the civilian government of Pakistan control the army.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(Econ, 1/2/10, p.33)
2009 Oct 16, US federal
prosecutors unveiled a broad criminal case against billionaire hedge
fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, head of Galleon Partners in Manhattan,
and 5 others accused of netting over $20 million by trading based on
insider information. Investigators had used wiretaps to gain
evidence. The trial of Rajaratnam opened on March 8, 2011, as the
case grew to involved 22.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.D1)(Econ, 3/5/11, p.83)
2009 Oct 16, Two US civil and
constitutional rights groups called for Keith Bardwell, a justice of
the peace in Louisiana, to resign for refusing to issue a marriage
license to an interracial couple. Bardwell held that most
interracial marriages failed and had told the couple to go seek
another justice of the peace.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 16, In Daly City, Ca.,
a 5-day event to help struggling borrowers drew thousands to the Cow
Palace to the Save the Dream tour sponsored by the Neighborhood
Assistance Corp. of America, a non-profit aimed at helping people
modify their home loans.
(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 16, Bank of America
Corp. said it lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter as
loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers
are still struggling to pay their bills. The nation's second-largest
bank said it wrote down loans on its books by almost $10 billion
during the July-September period, up almost $1 billion from the
second quarter.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Four Afghans,
including at least two civilians, died during a firefight between
militants and a joint international-Afghan force in Ghazni province.
IED bomb attacks claimed the lives of 3 US soldiers. An air strike
killed 20 militants in Urgun district, in southern Paktika province.
5 militants were killed in an Afghan army commando operation in the
Gereshk district of Helmand province. In Sangin district, also in
Helmand, one Afghan soldier was killed and another injured during a
small-arms attack.
(AP, 10/16/09) (AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In Australia 5
Muslim men were convicted of plotting the country’s largest
terrorist conspiracy as part of a bid to force the government to
change its policy on Middle East conflicts. The men, aged 25-44,
were arrested in a series of raids on their homes in 2005. On Feb
15, 2010, the 5 men were sentenced to 23 to 28 years in prison for
stockpiling explosive chemicals and firearms for terrorist attacks
on unspecified targets.
(AP, 10/16/09)(AP, 2/15/10)
2009 Oct 16, Bosnia's war
crimes court jailed Milorad Trbic (51), a former Serb army captain,
for 30 years for killing dozens and taking part in the persecution
and detention of thousands during the July, 1995, Srebrenica
massacre of some 8,000 Muslims. The court acquitted Trbic of
genocide charges due to lack of evidence.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Botswana held
parliamentary elections. On Oct 18 the independent electoral
commission announced that the governing party, which has been in
power for more than four decades, once again swept the elections.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) won 45 out of the 57 seats. This
paved the way for legislators to select incumbent President Seretse
Ian Khama to continue as leader of the world's largest
diamond-producing country.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 16, Queen Elizabeth II
formally opened Britain's new Supreme Court in a ceremony attended
by several US Supreme Court justices.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Canada detained
the rusting merchant vessel named Ocean Lady, believed to be trying
to smuggle 76 migrants from Sri Lanka onto its Pacific coast at
Vancouver Island.
(Reuters, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In China former
university professor and judge Guo Quan was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for "subversion of state power" by a court in eastern Jiangsu
Province.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, The European
Commission called for sharp cuts in cod quotas, up to 25% in some
areas, saying the prized fish is sliding toward commercial
extinction in several historic Atlantic fishing grounds.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, French farmers
struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees
with bales of hay and set them ablaze, and blocked highways around
the country as they demanded government help.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In Guinea 2
cabinet ministers resigned and France urged its citizens to leave
the former French colony as armed attacks increased in the aftermath
of a bloody rally last month where soldiers fired on pro-democracy
demonstrators.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In southern India
a blaze erupted at a fireworks warehouse in Pallipat near Chennai,
killing at least 32 people and injuring 10 others as millions of
Hindus prepared to celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northern Iraq a
suicide bomber opened fire on worshippers during prayers at a mosque
in Tal Afar and then blew himself up after running out of
ammunition, killing at least 15 people. 65 were wounded in the
attack. A government aide said Mohammed al-Dayni, a Sunni lawmaker
accused of being an insurgent ringleader, has been detained in
Malaysia.
(AP, 10/16/09)(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, Eight countries
called on Tokyo to allow divorced foreign parents access to their
children living in Japan and to sign a treaty against international
parental child abductions.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Kosovo's
authorities said they have demarcated a disputed border with
Macedonia, a scene of tensions in the past.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Libya's Oea
newspaper said Saif al-Islam, the reform-minded son of Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, has been named overall coordinator of a grouping of
the country's most influential tribal, political and business
leaders.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, A Mexican
government report said the use of cocaine doubled in Mexico over the
last six years, partly because the drug became more available in the
country. The Mexican navy enacted new rules prohibiting sailors from
shooting at vehicles that try to evade land checkpoints unless they
are fired on or feel that their lives or others' are in danger.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, Nigeria’s
anti-graft agency EFCC arrested two sacked bank chiefs and a senior
stockbroker for alleged fraud running into several millions of
dollars. EFCC said the former managing director of Bank PHB, Francis
Atuche, Charles Ojo of Finbank and Peter Ololo of Falcon Securities
would be prosecuted for alleged fraud and granting loans without
collateral.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northern
Nigeria the toll in a cholera outbreak rose to 149 with 52 more
deaths recorded. The disease was first reported on September 10 in
Gwoza local government on the border with Cameroon from where it
spread to six other districts.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, The girlfriend of
a Northern Ireland police officer was slightly injured when a bomb
exploded under her car in Belfast, sparking fears of a resurgence of
violence here.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, In northwestern
Pakistan 3 suicide attackers, including a woman, attacked a police
station in Peshawar city, killing 13 people, including 3 police
officers, 2 women and 2 children. Army airstrikes killed a dozen
suspected militants in South Waziristan ahead of an expected ground
offensive.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, A Russian court
sentenced an army sergeant to nine years in jail for passing on
information to Georgia during the time of its war with Russia.
Aleksandar Georgijevic, a Serbian national, was jailed for 8 years
for attempting to collect information on a number of Russian
military projects in 1998.
(Reuters, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 15, Somali pirates
seized the Kota Wajar, a Singapore-flagged container ship, in the
Indian Ocean about 300 miles (480km) north of the Seychelles
islands.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, A top southern
Sudanese official said former enemies in north and south Sudan have
reached agreement on details for a key referendum on the south’s
full independence. Clashes broke out in the remote border region
between southern Sudan and north-west Kenya. At least three Kenyan
soldiers were reported killed in cross border raids. An officer was
killed when security forces tracked down raiders in south Darfur,
shooting dead two of the attackers in an exchange of fire. Two
officers were killed a day earlier as up to four men raided a
guesthouse in the south Darfur town of Kass.
(AFP, 10/16/09)(AFP, 10/17/09)(Reuters, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 16, The UN Human
Rights Council voted to endorse a Gaza war crimes report and send it
to the Security Council, possibly setting up international
prosecution of Israelis and Palestinians accused of war crimes.
(AP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 16, Zimbabwe PM Morgan
Tsvangirai suspended cooperation with President Robert Mugabe's
"dishonest and unreliable" camp but said he will not quit the unity
government. The snub was sparked by the renewed detention of
Tsvangirai's top aide Roy Bennett.
(AFP, 10/16/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Oakland, Ca., 3
people died when their car flipped during a sideshow in the early
hours. The Nissan in the crash was said to have been in a hyphy
train, like a conga line on wheels with cars weaving and speeding in
unison.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C3)
2009 Oct 17, In Brazil drug
traffickers shot down a police helicopter during a gunbattle between
rival gangs. The weekend gang fight in Rio de Janeiro left 3 police
officers killed, and continued into the week leaving at least 32
people dead.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A8)(AP, 10/21/09)(AP,
10/22/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.42)
2009 Oct 17, In Iraq a suicide
bomber driving a dynamite-laden truck destroyed a key bridge on a
highway used by the departing US military outside Ramadi. An attack
on an Iraqi army convoy just outside of the city of Fallujah killed
four Iraqi soldiers and wounded 14. Attackers threw hand grenades at
an Iraqi army patrol near Kirkuk, killing two civilians and wounding
two others. In Mosul 2 policemen and one civilian were killed in
three unrelated incidents.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, The West Africa
regional bloc ECOWAS imposed an arms embargo against Guinea,
accusing the ruling military junta for "mass human rights
violations" during anti-government protests last month.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Honduras ousted
President Manuel Zelaya said negotiations over the coup are in
"suspense" after the rival factions rebuffed each other's proposals
and his foreign minister called the internationally brokered talks a
failure.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, Members of the
Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals at an
underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming
to the lowest-lying nation on earth.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, Mexican police in
Tijuana found a man's nude, mutilated body hung by the neck from an
expressway overpass, the 2nd such grisly discovery in 9 days. Police
reported finding the mutilated body of a woman in a reservoir in
another part of Tijuana. The woman's hands and head were missing. A
shootout between gunmen and police killed one officer and a gunman
and wounded two policemen. Tijuana investigators found five assault
rifles and vests with federal prosecutors' insignia in three
vehicles thought used by the attackers.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, It was reported
that an increasing number of children in Africa are being accused of
witchcraft by pastors of evangelical Christianity and then tortured
or killed, often by family members. Pastors were involved in half of
200 cases of "witch children" reviewed by the AP, and 13 churches
were named in the case files. Campaigners against the practice said
around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36
states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, More than 30,000
Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and
the Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border, in the
country's toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The
operation was expected to last around two months. At least 11
suspected insurgents were killed in jet bombings, while a bomb hit a
security convoy, killing one soldier and wounding three others. 4
soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire elsewhere
in the region. The plan was to capture and hold an area where an
estimated 10,000 insurgents were headquartered and reinforced with
about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them of Central Asian origin.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In the Philippines
a propeller-driven plane on a test flight crashed and burst into
flames in a suburb of Manila, killing at least four people onboard.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Puerto Rico
gunmen opened fire into a bar in Toa Baja shortly before midnight
and killed seven people, injuring 20 others. On Oct 27 Wilfredo
Semprit Santana, the owner of the bar, was arrested and charged with
drug trafficking.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Spain a huge
crowd rallied in Madrid against a bill to ease restrictions on
abortion, a vivid and emotional show of how the issue remains
sensitive two decades after abortion was legalized in this
traditionally Roman Catholic country.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In western Sudan 3
peacekeepers were wounded, two of them seriously, when their vehicle
came under fire in the Darfur region.
(AFP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 17, In Thailand some
17,000 "Red Shirt" supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra rallied in
Bangkok to pressure the Thai government over their petition seeking
a royal pardon for the fugitive former prime minister.
(AP, 10/17/09)
2009 Oct 18, Jasper Howard
(20), a University of Connecticut football player, was stabbed to
death during a fight outside a school-sanctioned dance. John William
Lomax III was charged with murder and conspiracy to commit assault
in connection with Howard's death. Another man, Hakim Muhammad (20)
was charged with conspiracy to commit assault. Lomax’s lawyer later
said his client was trying to break up the fight and was not
involved in the stabbing.
(AP, 10/19/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 18, Amazon Chief Almir
Surui (35), unveiled a project in partnership with Google, to make
public the encroachment of illegal mining and logging on his
people’s 600,000 acre reserve in Brazil. Almir was evacuated for his
safety to the US in 2006. Eleven chief of the Surui and neighboring
tribes have been shot and killed this decade.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 18, Dawn Viens was
last seen leaving her husband's successful restaurant in Lomita,
Calif. Her husband did not report her missing. On Feb 23, 2011,
David Viens jumped of a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes following news
reports that he was suspect in his wife’s disappearance.
(www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20016368-504083.html)(SFC, 2/24/11,
p.A5)
2009 Oct 18, In Afghanistan
Taliban fighters attacked a NATO convoy in western Badghis province.
6 Taliban were killed including a local commander in Bala Murghab
district. In southern Uruzgan province clashes with Afghan and
international forces left eight Taliban dead and three wounded. One
US service member was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED)
attack in the south.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Australia
Jessica Watson (16) steered her bright pink, 10-meter yacht out of
Sydney Harbor to start her bid to become the youngest person to sail
solo and unassisted around the world. Her decision sparked a debate
in Australia about whether someone so young should be allowed to try
such a potentially dangerous feat. She completed her voyage on May
15, 2010.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 5/15/10)
2009 Oct 18, Representatives of
the world's biggest carbon polluters began two days of informal
talks in London to map out common ground 50 days before a key UN
climate conference in Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, China reported
that authorities have started resettling 330,000 people in central
Hubei and Henan provinces to make way for a massive project to
divert water hundreds of miles to cities in its arid north. The
estimated $62 billion water diversion could be nearly three times as
expensive as the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric
project.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, The EU used the
world's biggest book fair in Frankfurt to launch the EU Bookshop's
digital library, making more than 50 years of documents in about 50
languages available for free on the Internet. The files dated back
to 1952 when six countries created the High Authority of the Coal
and Steel Community, the EU's precursor.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Iran a suicide
bomber killed 5 senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard,
10 other members of the Guard and at least 27 others in an area of
the southeast that has been at the center of a simmering Sunni
insurgency. The dead included the deputy commander of the Guard's
ground force, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief
provincial Guard commander for the area, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. A
militant group from Iran's Sunni Muslim minority called Jundallah,
or Soldiers of God, claimed responsibility. Jundallah, made up of
Sunnis from the Baluchi ethnic minority, is also found in Pakistan
and Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/18/09)(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Iraq a bomb
attached to a motorcycle exploded near a popular cafe in a largely
Sunni district of Baghdad killing five people. In the north an
American soldier was killed in a vehicle accident.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 18, Pakistan pounded
Taliban bases from the air and bore down on their leader's hometown,
intensifying a major offensive against the Islamists and claiming to
have killed 60 militants in operation Rah-e-Nijat. Five
soldiers were reported killed. Ammunition supplies deep in the
mountains are thought to be sufficient to keep the militants
fighting for several months without outside supply lines.
(AFP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, Russia's unmanned
Progress M-03M docked with the orbital station after a three-day
trip up from Earth. It delivered food, fuel, oxygen and other
supplies to the International Space Station.
(AP, 10/18/09)
2009 Oct 18, In Sudan Irish
national Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki, who worked for
Irish charity GOAL, were freed. They had been kidnapped on July 3 at
gunpoint. The Irish Times newspaper reported on Oct 24 that a
150,000-euro (225,000-dollar) ransom was paid to secure the release
of two aid workers in the western Darfur region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 19, US President
Barack Obama unveiled a new policy on Sudan and warned Khartoum of
more US pressure if it failed to respond to his fresh incentives to
stop "genocide" and "abuses" in Darfur.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, US prosecutors
were told in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department that
pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be
targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical
marijuana.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, American scientist
Stewart D. Nozette (52) of Chevy Chase, Md., was arrested for
attempted espionage after passing classified information to an
undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative. In
2011 Nozette pleaded guilty to espionage and agreed to a 13-year
prison term.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.A5)(SFC, 9/8/11, p.A8)
2009 Oct 19, It was reported
that almost 10% of SF Muni riders cheat on their fares.
(SSFC, 10/18/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 19, Somer Thompson
(7), a north Florida girl, vanished on her walk home from school.
Detectives found her body partially covered by garbage on Oct 21 in
a Georgia landfill, about 48 miles from where the girl disappeared.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 19, Organizers of the
multimillion-dollar Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African
Leadership, an annual prize for good governance, said they had
decided not to give out the award this year.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Afghanistan
fraud investigators threw out hundreds of thousands of votes for
President Hamid Karzai in the country's disputed August election.
The findings set the stage for a runoff between him and his top
challenger. Taliban militants set fire to 15 trucks carrying
supplies to a military base in eastern Ghazni province. Afghan
security guards killed two militants during the fighting. Two Afghan
security troopers were killed in a gun battle overnight with Taliban
fighters near Ghazni city.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Energy group
Chevron announced a new natural gas discovery off Western Australia
that will help support the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas
(LNG) project.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Costa Rica
Michael Dixon (33), a British journalist, was last spotted leaving
the Villas Macondo hotel in the popular surfers' resort of Playa
Tamarindo, having traveled there on his own.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Oct 19, The EU agreed to
give the dairy sector an extra $420 million in special aid in an
effort to quell a season of unrest in agriculture. Meanwhile angry
farmer pelted riot police with eggs and buckets of milk in
Luxembourg.
(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 19, French police
apprehended suspected ETA militant Aitor Elizaran (30) in a car park
at the wheel of a stolen car in the Brittany seaside town of Carnac,
along with a woman suspect, Oihana Sanvicente (32). They were soon
charged with conspiracy to collaborate with a terrorist
organization.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 19, In India in an
interview published in the weekly magazine Open, Mupalla Laxman Rao,
better known as Ganapathi, vowed to unleash a "tornado" of violence
if the government goes ahead with a planned large-scale offensive
against his Maoist forces.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, An Iraqi Army
patrol in western part of Mosul shot dead an armed man, who was
firing at the patrol. An American solider was killed and two others
were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle in
Ninevah province.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 19, Israeli police
arrested Donald Edward Nelson (59), a convicted American pedophile,
in a hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem. Nelson was convicted last
year in a California court on 52 counts of sexual abuse of minors
and sentenced to 110 years in prison. He fled the US to avoid being
jailed and was hiding out in Jerusalem.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 19, Japan said it has
caught 59 whales off Hokkaido, one short of the maximum allowed by
international guidelines, under a research program that critics say
is a cover for commercial whaling.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Kenya a 3-story
building collapsed in Nairobi killing at least 6 people with 14 left
missing.
(AP, 10/20/09)(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 19, It was reported
that Mexican biologists and park workers were racing to fell as many
as 9,000 fir trees, infected with deadly bark beetles, and bury or
extract infested wood before the orange-and-black monarchs start
arriving in late October to spend the winter bunched together on
branches, carpeting the trees.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Nigeria reported
plans to offer inhabitants of its oil-producing Niger Delta region
10% of oil and gas ventures in a bid to end a rebellion that has
hampered output for years.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Pakistani troops
fought militants on three fronts and fighter jets bombed insurgent
positions near the Afghan border as Pakistan pressed ahead with an
assault on the country's main Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold. The
offensive focused on eliminating Taliban militants linked to the
Mehsud tribe, who control about half of South Waziristan and are
blamed for 80% of the suicide attacks that have battered Pakistan
over the last three years. Police said they had arrested Akhtar
Zaman, a man identified as the head of the Pakistani Taliban, in the
southern city of Karachi along with three other alleged militants in
connection with a foiled attempt to attack an oil terminal last
month.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, Somali pirates
seized a Chinese cargo ship with 25 people onboard. On Dec 27 a band
of Somali pirates split a $4 million ransom to release the bulk
carrier De Xin Hai, a Chinese cargo ship, and 25 sailors after two
months in captivity.
(AP, 10/19/09)(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Oct 19, Sri Lankan shares
tumbled after the US slapped fraud charges on Raj Rajaratnam (52), a
billionaire Sri Lankan-born hedge fund manager, whose investments in
the island came under a fresh "review." Rajaratnam had admitted
funding the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) soon after the
December 2004 tsunami. The TRO was outlawed as a front of the
separatist Tamil Tigers in both Sri Lanka and the United States in
2007.
(AFP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 19, In Turkey tens of
thousands of Kurds flocked to the Iraqi border to greet 34 PKK
fighters and their sympathizers, who gave themselves up following a
call by PM Erdogan to return home.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 19, In Uganda Pres.
Museveni officially recognized the 300,000 strong Rwenzururu Kingdom
under Charles Wesley Mumbere (56), who had inherited the title in
1966 at age 13. Museveni restored all the traditional kingdoms
abandoned in 1967. Mumbere, who had moved to the USA in 1984 on a
government scholarship, worked as a nurse’s aide in Maryland and
Pennsylvania.
(SFC, 10/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 19, Uruguay's Supreme
Court declared unconstitutional a law that has provided amnesty to
military officials accused of murders, disappearances and other
human rights violations during the country's dictatorship.
(AP, 10/19/09)
2009 Oct 20, The US Congress
passed a bill allowing detainees from Guantanamo to be brought to
the US, but only to stand for trial, not to be released or jailed
there.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.36)
2009 Oct 20, In Arizona Faleh
Hassan Almaleki (49), an Iraqi immigrant, ran his Jeep Cherokee over
his daughter, Noor Almaleki (20), after she refused an arranged
marriage and went to college. Noor died of her injuries on Nov 2,
2009. On Feb 22, 2011, Faleh Hassan Almaleki was convicted of 2nd
degree murder.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor_killing_in_the_United_States)(SFC,
2/23/11, p.A4)
2009 Oct 20, Afghanistan's
election commission ordered a Nov. 7 runoff in the disputed
presidential poll after a fraud investigation dropped incumbent
Hamid Karzai's votes below 50 percent of the total. Karzai accepted
the finding and agreed to a second round vote. Afghan and
international forces killed about half a dozen militants during a
raid on compounds used by a Taliban commander in eastern Wardak
province.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Representatives of
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay announced a joint plan in Buenos
Aires to establish protected zones to halt deforestation in their
countries by 2020.
(SFC, 10/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 20, Australian
officials said a leech found at a crime scene in 2001 led police to
a man who admitted robbing an elderly woman. The leech dropped off
Peter Cannon as he and an accomplice tied a 71-year-old woman to a
chair in her remote home in the Tasmanian woods on Sept. 28, 2001.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Bolivia's National
Electoral Court announced that former Pando state Gov. Leopoldo
Fernandez can campaign from a La Paz jail because he is detained as
a precautionary measure, over killings under his watch in Sept,
2008, and has not been charged.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, China executed 2
people for their roles in deadly protests last year in the
Chinese-controlled region of Tibet, the first known executions for
the violence. Lobsang Gyaltsen (28) and Loyak (30), who goes by one
name, were sentenced to death in April on charges relating to
"starting fatal fires."
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 20, The Honduras
government lifted a three-week broadcast ban allowing opposition
radio and television stations back on the air.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Talks in Vienna
meant to persuade Iran to send most of its enriched uranium abroad,
and thus delay its potential to make a nuclear weapon, bogged down
over fierce Iranian resistance to French participation.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, An Indian official
said 8 South Asian countries have agreed they can't be part of any
climate change deal that sets legally binding limits on their
emissions.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Iraq a car
packed with explosives blew up at a gas station in Saqlawiyah, 45
miles (75km) west of Baghdad, killing 3 policemen and one civilian.
In northern Baghdad, one civilian was killed and 4 were wounded when
a bomb attached to a minibus exploded in Kazimiyah, a primarily
Shiite suburb of the capital. Minutes later, a roadside bomb
targeting a police patrol in western Baghdad wounded 3 civilians. In
Hilla, just south of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police
patrol killed one policeman and wounded two others. In Mosul a
roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, wounding two soldiers
and one civilian.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Iran’s state news
agency said Kian Tajbakhsh, an Iranian-American academic, has been
convicted for his alleged role in the post-election unrest in the
country and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Japan’s government
said it would reverse the privatization of Japan Post along with its
enormous banking unit. On Oct 28 the new government ousted the
president of Japan Post and almost the entire board.
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.50)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.73)
2009 Oct 20, Kuwait's highest
court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their
husband's approval, in the latest stride for women's rights in this
small oil-rich emirate. The landmark decision "freed" Kuwaiti women
from the 1962 law requiring their husband's signature to obtain a
passport.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, Kyrgyzstan's
Cabinet resigned as part of a sweeping government reform campaign
the president said will save money and make the Central Asian
nation's leadership more effective. Opposition leaders dismissed
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's reform push as a bid to increase his
own power.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, The United States
presented Mali security forces with more than $5 million in new
vehicles and other equipment.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Hidalgo,
Mexico, police found the body of a young man, about 16 years old,
who was found dead with two bullets in his head, his genitals cut
off and a warning note stabbed into his chest.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 20, Niger held
elections. On Oct 24 the electoral commission said the ruling party
had won a majority of votes in parliamentary elections. The official
results said President Mamadou Tandja's party received 76 out of 113
seats in the national assembly. The vote came just two months after
a referendum passed allowing Tandja to extend his rule for years
past the constitutional limit. The opposition protested the
referendum, saying it granted Tandja near-totalitarian powers, and
boycotted the elections.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 20, Nigeria’s main
rebel group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
(MEND), expressed cautious optimism after a landmark meeting between
its leader and President Umaru Yar'Adua.
(AFP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, In Pakistan 2
suicide attackers bombed an Islamic university in Islamabad, killing
6 people and wounding 18 as the army pressed ahead with a critical
offensive on a Taliban stronghold near Afghanistan. Firefights raged
in the areas around Kaskai and Shisanwam, and 4 more soldiers were
killed, bringing the army's death toll over four days to 13.
(AP, 10/20/09)(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 20, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev brought a euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) loan to
recession-hit Serbia, as Moscow sought to expand its political and
economic influence in the Balkans with the first-ever visit to
Belgrade by a Russian president.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Oct 20, Turkish
prosecutors sought charges against 5 Kurdish rebels who surrendered
in a peace gesture, raising questions about whether thousands of
other guerrillas can be persuaded to end their decades-long fight.
The 5 were later released on the orders of a judge.
(AP, 10/20/09)(Econ, 10/24/09, p.63)
2009 Oct 21, Federal court
documents linked Alaska Rep. Don Young to a wide-ranging
investigation of corruption in Alaska. It was alleged that the
19-term Republican had received gifts totaling nearly $200,000 over
13 years from Veco Corp., a defunct oil field services company run
by former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A10)
2009 Oct 21, US federal
prosecutors in Massachusetts arrested Tarek Mehanna (27) of Sudbury,
a suburb of Boston. Prosecutors said he had conspired to kill two
prominent US politicians and carry out a holy war by attacking
shoppers in US malls and American troops in Iraq. Mehanna, a US
citizen, had been arrested in November and charged with lying to the
FBI in December 2006 when asked about the whereabouts of Daniel
Maldonado, who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence for training
alongside al-Qaida members to overthrow the Somali government. On
Dec 20, 2011, Mehanna was convicted of conspiring to support
al-Qaida and other terrorism charges.
(AP, 10/21/09)(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A4)(SFC,
12/21/11, p.A8)
2009 Oct 21, In Toledo, Ohio,
Mohammad Zaki Amawi (29) was sentenced to 20 years in jail for
plotting to recruit and train terrorists to kill US soldiers in
Iraq. Marwan Othman El-Hindi (46) was sentenced to 12 years. The two
men and a third defendant had been found guilty in 2008. The third
man has yet to be sentenced.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A4)(http://tinyurl.com/ygnbfpt)
2009 Oct 21, Northwest Airlines
Flight 188 overflew its Minneapolis destination by 150 miles.
Air traffic controllers and pilots tried for more than an hour night
to contact pilot Richard Cole (54) of Salem, Oregon, and the
flight's captain, Timothy B. Cheney (53), of Gig Harbor, Wash.,
using radio, cell phone and data messages. The pilots said they had
been having a heated discussion about airline policy. On Oct 27 the
FAA revoked the licenses of the two pilots saying they had been out
of radio contact for 91 minutes.
(AP, 10/24/09)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 21, Alyssa Bustamante
(15) of St. Martins, Mo., strangled, stabbed and cut a 9-year-old
neighbor's throat. She told authorities she did it because she
wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.
(http://news.aol.com/article/alyssa-bustamante-15-charged-as-adult-in/772912)
2009 Oct 21, In Afghanistan
ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, President Hamid Karzai's
chief political rival, agreed to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff
election, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face
of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows. One US soldier died
of wounds sustained in a bomb attack in the south.
(AP, 10/21/09)(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, In the Bahamas the
trial of two people accused of trying to extort John Travolta
following the death of his son there ended in a mistrial after a
lawmaker suggested the still-deliberating jury had acquitted one of
the defendants.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, A Briton who cost
the insurance industry some 1.6 million pounds by staging almost 100
car crashes as part of a scam to win fraudulent payouts, was jailed
for 4-1/2 years. Mohammed Patel (24) charged 500 pounds a time to
stage accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of
17,000 pounds from their insurers.
(Reuters, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Spanish-owned
airports operator BAA announced the sale of the second busiest hub
Gatwick to a US investment fund for 1.51 billion pounds following an
antitrust ruling.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, China and India
put aside a diplomatic spat to sign a five-year agreement in New
Delhi to cooperate on climate change leading up to crucial talks in
Copenhagen.
(AFP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, A court in
southwest China sentenced six men to death for gang-related crimes
including blackmail and murder, the first convictions in a months
long crackdown that has exposed a major city mired in violent
organized crime. More than 1,544 suspects have been detained in
Chongqing, China's largest municipality, since the gang sweep
started in June, with more than a dozen criminal gangs busted.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Security guards
thwarted an attempted hijacking on an EgyptAir flight from Istanbul
to Cairo by overpowering a Sudanese man who threatened crew members
with a plastic knife. The man told flight attendants he wanted to
"liberate Jerusalem."
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In northern India
a passenger train crashed into another train's rear carriage
reserved for women and disabled passengers, killing 22 people and
injuring 16 who remained trapped for hours near Agra, the home of
the Taj Mahal.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Indonesia’s
customs chief said a group of 10 alleged Iranian drug smugglers,
including eight veiled women, were caught with $12.5 million worth
of methamphetamines at the main airport. The group had arrived on
flights from Malaysia, Syria and Qatar on Oct 19-20.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Diplomats in
Vienna said Iranian negotiators expressed support for a deal that,
if accepted by their leaders, would delay Tehran's ability to make
nuclear weapons by sending most of its existing enriched uranium to
Russia for processing.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In Iraq a blast in
Kirkuk killed cameraman Orhan Hijran, who worked for Baghdad-based
television station Al-Rasheed, and wounded correspondent Mohammed
Shahid of Cairo-based Al-Baghdadiyah.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, Lithuanian
lawmakers demanded an investigation into allegations that the CIA
had established a prison there for al-Qaida suspects. Leaders have
denied that Lithuania had hosted clandestine detention centers.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 21, ECOWAS suspended
Niger following its failure to comply with the 17th October 2009
Decision of Heads of State and Government to postpone the
legislative elections of Tuesday, 20th October 2009. ECOWAS
suspended Niger on account of bad behavior by President Mamadou
Tandja (71).
(http://news.ecowas.int/presseshow.php?nb=113&lang=en&annee=2009)(Econ,
2/27/10, p.56)
2009 Oct 21, Pakistani soldiers
fought for control of Kotkai, the Taliban chief's hometown, pressing
forward with a major offensive targeting an insurgent stronghold
along the Afghan border. Suspected US missiles killed two militants
in a neighboring region, a potentially troubling strike because it
hit territory controlled by another militant faction the army has
coaxed into neutrality during its offensive. The army's death toll
so far rose to 16, while 15 more militants were slain, bringing
their overall death toll to 105.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, In Somalia a
powerful Islamist group linked to al-Qaida ordered two radio
stations in southwestern Somalia to stop broadcasts indefinitely.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 21, South Africa’s
President Jacob Zuma said Zimbabwe must not return to instability,
after holding talks with PM Morgan Tsvangirai who has cut ties
within his unity government. Tsvangirai flew to South Africa after
meeting Mozambican President Armando Guebuza a day earlier and then
headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola to brief
leaders on Zimbabwe's worst impasse in eight months.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 21, A Sudanese cargo
plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sharjah International
Airport north of Dubai, killing the 6-member crew but causing no
other casualties on the ground.
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 22, The Obama
administration said it is designating over 200,000 square miles in
Alaska and off its coast as critical habitat for polar bears.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 22, US authorities
arrested over 300 people in 38 cities in a sting against Mexico’s La
Familia drug operations in the US. At least 84 were arrested in
Dallas as part of Operation Coronado.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A12)(SFC, 12/12/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 22, The US pay czar
slashed compensation for top earners at seven bailed-out companies
for the final two months of the year, and was immediately slammed by
the country's largest bank which claimed the cuts could send talent
fleeing.
(Reuters, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, California
authorities said a grand jury has indicted 18 people on charges of
marijuana growing and mortgage fraud. The San Francisco Bay Area
residents allegedly operated marijuana gardens in 50 homes in the
Central Valley in 2006 and 2007.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 22, Officials in
Benicia, Ca., announced that ships in the “ghost fleet” of Suisun
Bay would begin a process of cleanup and dismantling next month. The
first two ships scheduled for recycling were the Pan American
Victory and the Earlham Victory, both WWII cargo ships built in
1945.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 22, SF city officials
broke ground on a project to rebuild San Francisco General Hospital.
City voters in 2008 had authorized an $887 million bond measure for
the project.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 22, The Minnesota
Supreme Court ruled that bong water can count as an illegal drug. A
person could be prosecuted for a first-degree drug crime for 25
grams or more of bong water that tests positive for a controlled
substance.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 22, The Windows 7
computer operating system went on sale.
(SFC, 10/22/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 22, Soupy Sales
(b.1926), TV personality born as Milton Supman, died in NYC. He was
best known for his Detroit-based children's television show, “Lunch
with Soupy Sales” (1953). Beginning in October 1959, it was telecast
nationally on the ABC television network. His career was built on
some 20,000 pies to face and 5,000 live TV appearances across half a
century.
(SFC, 10/23/09,
p.A8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soupy_Sales)
2009 Oct 22, African leaders
started a 2-day summit in Kampala, Uganda, aiming to ratify the
Convention on the Protection and Assistance of the Displaced People
in Africa, now numbering about 17 million.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Australia Don
Lane (75), an American song-and-dance man known as "The Lanky Yank,”
died. He was handed a full-time gig on Australian TV in 1975 and
"The Don Lane Show" became a ratings winner, a mixture of cabaret
acts, interviews, comedy skits and a song from the tall host to
close each show.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Curitiba,
Brazil, Jorge Guilherme Marinho Martins (26), the son of fire chief
Jorge Luiz Thais Martins, was killed by robbers who wanted to steal
his car while he returned from a party. His girlfriend also was
shot, but survived. At least eight drug users in the neighborhood
were soon killed. In 2011 an arrest warrant was issued for Martins
for his alleged involvement in killing the drug users.
(AP, 1/28/11)(http://tinyurl.com/4zmt6t4)
2009 Oct 22, More than 8
million people watched British National Party leader Nick Griffin
slam Islam as a wicked faith, express his disgust at homosexuals and
defend the Ku Klux Klan on its "Question Time" program.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 22, British Royal Mail
workers began a two-day strike in a bitter row over pay, conditions
and modernization, causing widespread disruption to mail services.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The Red Cross said
more than 4,500 people have fled attacks by the Ugandan rebel group
Lord's Resistance Army in the Central African Republic.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Ethiopia said it
needs emergency food aid for 6.2 million people, an appeal that
comes 25 years after a devastating famine compounded by communist
policies killed 1 million and prompted one of the largest charity
campaigns in history.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The EU's
parliament awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought
to three prominent Russian rights activists, in recognition of the
difficult conditions they face in defending human rights in Russia
today. The prize was awarded to Lyudmila Alexeyeva (82), Sergei
Kovalyov (79) and Oleg Orlov (56) on behalf of the human rights
organization Memorial and "all other human rights defenders in
Russia."
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, The EU said it has
launched an investigation into a prized Spanish wetland that has
turned bone dry through mismanagement of water resources and is now
on fire underground, white smoke now rising from areas where fish
once swam. The EU wants the Spanish government to explain how it
plans to save Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park in the central
Castilla-La Mancha region. It is classified as a UNESCO biosphere
site and an EU-protected area because of its birdlife.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Iraq a local
police chief said 6 suspected al-Qaida members, including two who
were formerly detained by US troops, were arrested near the western
Iraqi city of Fallujah. They had been released in July for lack of
evidence. A local criminal court in Diyala province issued an arrest
warrant for parliamentarian Tayseer al-Mashhadani a Sunni member of
parliament, and her husband, Hashim al-Hiyali, on suspicion of
financing and inciting sectarian violence.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 22, Mexican police
detained five suspected associates of the Gulf drug cartel for
alleged involvement in violent clashes that killed four people in
the central Mexican state of Hidalgo. The suspects were said to be
affiliated with the Zetas, the drug ring's hit men.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Pakistan
suspected militants on a motorbike shot and killed a senior army
officer and a soldier in Islamabad, striking at security forces as
the military wages a major anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest.
An army statement reported two more soldiers were killed, bringing
the army's death toll to 18, while 24 more militants were slain,
bringing their death toll to 129.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In the Philippines
outbreaks of leptospirosis, spread by water contaminated with the
urine of rats, dogs and other animals, have compounded the problems
faced after back-to-back storms since late last month killed more
than 900 people. The WHO said it will send an emergency team to help
fight a bacterial disease outbreak that has killed at least 148
people and sickened nearly 2,000 in and around the flood-hit
capital.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Somalia mortar
bombs killed at least 30 people in Mogadishu after rebels launched
shells at the president's plane and African Union (AU) peacekeepers
responded with heavy artillery fire.
(Reuters, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Somali pirates
with automatic weapons seized the India-managed, Panamanian-flagged
MV Al Khaliq cargo ship off Africa's east coast and held its 26 crew
members hostage. Pirates also unsuccessfully attempted to hijack the
Italian-flagged MV Jolly Rosso off the Kenyan coast. The Al Khaliq
cargo ship was freed on Feb 9, 2010, after 3.1 million US dollars
were paid to the pirates.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AFP, 2/9/10)
2009 Oct 22, In Sri Lanka more
than 4,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by civil war left government-run
camps, the latest to be released amid international criticism that
Sri Lanka is moving too slowly to let thousands of others go.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, A Sudanese court
sentenced two women to 20 lashes for dressing "indecently." Judge
Hassan Mohammed Ali said: "The two women wore trousers and no
headscarf. The court therefore finds them guilty according the
public order laws." Last year nearly 43,000 women were detained for
indecent clothing offences in Khartoum region, where five million
people live.
(AFP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, In Sudan gunmen
kidnapped Gauthier Lefevre (35), a French staff member working for
the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the western Darfur
region. The kidnappers soon demanded a three-million-euro ransom.
Lefevre was released on March 18, 2010.
(AP, 10/22/09)(AFP, 10/27/09)(AP, 3/18/10)
2009 Oct 22, The Swedish
government approved the early release of former Bosnian Serb
President Biljana Plavsic (79), who was sentenced to 11 years in
prison by a war crimes tribunal. The Justice Ministry says she will
be released on Oct 27 after serving two-thirds of her sentence for
persecution.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 22, Uruguay's last
dictator, Gregorio Alvarez (83), was sentenced to 25 years in prison
for 37 homicides during the 1973-1985 military regime, when
dissidents disappeared in a region-wide crackdown on leftists called
"Operation Condor." Alvarez was commander-in-chief of the army
(1978-1979) and de facto president from 1981 until Feb 12, 1985.
Navy Capt. Juan Larcebeau was also sentenced to 20 years in prison
for 29 homicides related to clandestine prisoner transfers in 1978.
(AP,
10/22/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorio_Conrado_%C3%81lvarez)
2009 Oct 22, Venezuela deported
Luis Cediel to the US. The Colombian man had links to a pyramid
scheme that bilked Colombians out of hundreds of millions of
dollars.
(SFC, 10/23/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, President Barack
Obama signed a declaration making the swine flu outbreak a national
emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move
emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected
patients.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Top US safety
officials met with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints
from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect
drywall imported from China. Consumer Products Safety Commission
Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said that the two sides were talking about
the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the
problems.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, US regulators shut
down 3 small banks in Florida and one each in Georgia, Illinois,
Minnesota and Wisconsin bringing the total for the year of failed US
banks to 106.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 23, Anthony Pellicano
and associate Alexander Proctor pleaded no contest to threatening LA
Times reporter Anita Busch, who was putting together a story on
actor Steven Seagal’s possible connections to organized crime.
Pellicano, a former Hollywood private eye, was already serving a 15
year sentence for digging up dirt public figures.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In Richmond, Ca.,
a girl (16) left a homecoming dance at Richmond High gym and joined
a group of men drinking in a nearby alley. She became drunk and was
raped and robbed by as many as 10 young men. Police found her
semi-conscious near a lunch table and arrested one suspect fleeing
the scene. 2 more suspects, aged 15 and 21, were arrested on Oct 27.
On Oct 28 three juveniles were arrested in connection to the crime
and charged as adults. A 6th suspect was arrested on Oct 29. On Jan
19 John Crane Jr. (43) turned himself in for participating in the
rape. In 2010 Cody Smith, the youngest of 7 defendants was released,
because his Miranda rights had been violated. In 2011 the West
Contra Costa Unified School District settled a civil suit and agreed
to pay the victim $4 million.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.C6)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A10)(SFC,
10/29/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A1)(SFC, 1/22/10, p.C9)(SFC,
12/22/10, p.C2)(SSFC, 1/23/11, p.C3)
2009 Oct 23, In Colorado Miguel
Angel Caro Quintero (46), a Mexican drug kingpin, pleaded guilty in
Denver to federal drug and racketeering charges. He had led the
Sonora Cartel in the 1980s and faced up to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 23, In Missouri police
found the body of Elizabeth Olton (9). She had gone missing 2 days
earlier. A 15-year-old, who led police to her body, was charged with
her murder.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, In New Jersey Rev.
Ed Hinds (61), a Catholic priest, was found stabbed 32 times at the
rectory of St. Patrick’s Church in Chatham. The next day Jose
Feliciano (64) a janitor, was charged with the slaying.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 23, African leaders,
meeting in Uganda, ratified a convention on the protection of the
continent's internally-displaced people, refugees and returnees,
billed as the first of its kind worldwide.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In southern
Afghanistan 2 US soldiers were killed by a home-made bomb. A Danish
soldier lost his life in clashes with Taliban-led insurgents in the
same region.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 23, Australia approved
Yanzhou Coal's 3.2 billion US dollar takeover of miner Felix
Resources, its biggest by a Chinese firm, in a breakthrough for the
Asian giant's scramble for commodities.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British far-right
leader Nick Griffin accused the BBC of mounting a "lynch mob" on him
in a charged appearance on a TV political panel show, and called for
it to be re-recorded.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, British couple
Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading from the Seychelles to
Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when the distress signal
was sent. Reports followed that the couple were seized by pirates.
The couple were taken to the Somali pirate lair of Harardhere and $7
million was later demanded for their release. The Chandlers were
released on Nov 14, 2010, after a ransom of at least 750,000 dollars
was paid.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AFP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/31/09)(AFP,
11/14/10)
2009 Oct 23, In Canada a judge
in Winnipeg acquitted Kyle Unger (38) of the 1990 murder of Brigitte
Grenier (16). DNA tests in 2005 showed that hair on the victim came
from somebody else. Unger had spent 13 years in jail before he was
granted bail in 2005.
(SFC, 10/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 23, Chinese state
media reported that police have arrested 42 alleged members of a
trafficking ring that sold dozens of infants stolen or bought from
their rural parents.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The Czech Republic
and NATO said that they backed a reworked US missile defense plan
meant to defend against threats from Iran and other nations.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In France Jean
Sarkozy (23), President Nicolas Sarkozy's son, was elected to the
board of the organization that runs France's most important business
district after a dramatic withdrawal of his bid for the top spot
amid fierce accusations of favoritism. He had been the leading
candidate to head EPAD, a quasi-governmental organization overseeing
real estate and the administration of La Defense, the neighborhood
of skyscrapers west of Paris that is home to top companies and the
workplace of 150,000 people.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Honduras a
negotiator for ousted leftist President Manuel Zelaya said the
latest round of talks to resolve the dispute over the June 28 coup
has ended in failure, adding that further talks were unlikely.
Escaped inmates in Santa Barbara set fire to a prison, a public
market and a cultural center before authorities stopped the riot and
captured 76 of the 79 fugitives.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, A Kenyan court
released gang leader, Maina Njenga, after prosecutors dropped 28
murder charges against him. He had been in prison since 2006. His
Mungiki gang was notorious for beheading its victims.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In northwest
Pakistan a suicide bomber killed 8 people in Kamra, near the
Pakistan Aeronautical Complex. An anti-tank mine killed 16 wedding
guests in the tribal belt. Most of the dead were women and children.
A car bomb exploded outside a restaurant in the northwestern city of
Peshawar, wounding 15.
(AP, 10/23/09)(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Puerto Rico an
earthshaking explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in the
suburb of Bayamon, just west of the capital of San Juan, led to the
evacuation of more than 1,500 people. Authorities wee concerned
about those downwind of the fire.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 23, Somali Islamist
rebels threatened to attack the capitals of Burundi and Uganda, the
two central African countries that have deployed peacekeeping troops
to prop up Somali's transitional government.
(AFP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Swiss and US
authorities said the US has asked Switzerland to hand over Roman
Polanski to authorities in California, where he could serve up to
two years in prison for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Thailand the
annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations began
inauspiciously when half the bloc's 10 leaders failed to show up at
the opening of the 3-day conference due to a tropical storm,
domestic politics, a VIP visit and a possible illness. ASEAN nations
inaugurated their first regional human rights commission, a watchdog
immediately derided as toothless by activists who walked out of a
meeting to protest being snubbed by five of the governments
involved.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, Bishops attending
a Vatican meeting on Africa issued a blunt ultimatum to corrupt
Catholic political leaders in Africa: repent or leave public office.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, The World Health
Organization said nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from
swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global
epidemic.
(AP, 10/23/09)
2009 Oct 23, In Zimbabwe armed
police raided a house belonging to PM Morgan Tsvangirai's party in a
new threat to the country's faltering unity government.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, City and state
officials in Los Angeles dedicated the new 10-story, $437 million
police headquarters.
(SSFC, 10/25/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 24, Taliban fighters
warned Afghans not to take part in the war-wracked country's
upcoming presidential runoff, threatening to launch a fresh wave of
violence on polling day to stop them. US troops killed four
civilians when they fired on a van approaching their convoy on the
main highway in southern Kandahar province. A bomb killed an
American service member in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In China a Belgian
cargo vessel leaked oil into waters at the Caofeidian port in
northeastern Hebei province, after a Chinese ship crashed into it at
a refueling dock.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Egypt two
passenger trains collided at high speed south of Cairo, killing 18
people and wounding 39. An initial inquiry found that a signalman
had left work early and failed to warn drivers of delays because of
a water buffalo on the track. Later analysis of a blood sample from
the driver of the first train revealed the presence of traces of
hashish.
(AFP, 10/25/09)(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel finished building a new center-right
government and announced an overhaul of the health care system, more
help for families and annual tax cuts of up to euro24 billion.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Iraq a suicide
bomber wearing an explosive vest in Tikrit killed two people outside
the offices of a Sunni political party called National Unity.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pakistani soldiers
captured Kotkai, the strategically located hometown of Taliban chief
Hakimullah Mehsud after fierce fighting. It was the army's first
major prize as it pushes deeper into a militant stronghold along the
Afghan border. The army said that three more soldiers had died,
putting the army's death toll at 23, and 21 more militants had been
killed, putting their overall death toll at 163. A suspected US
missile killed 22 people elsewhere in the northwest, but apparently
missed a top Taliban figure. 6 soldiers died in an army helicopter
crash in the Bajur tribal region.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Rwanda 10
people were locked up in an underground passage which was blocked by
a big amount of (fallen) residue in Nyakabingo. 7 were rescued by
local people who dug another quick entrance. 3 remained inside. A
week earlier, 3 other miners were crushed to death in a cassiterite
and coltan mine in Rutongo, northern Rwanda.
(Reuters, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 24, A Saudi court
convicted a female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in
which a Saudi man, Abdul-Jawad, publicly talked about sex, and
sentenced her to 60 lashes. Rozanna al-Yami (22) is believed to be
the first Saudi woman journalist to be given such a punishment. The
same court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in
jail and 1,000 lashes. 3 other men who appeared on the show, "Bold
Red Line," were also convicted of discussing sex publicly and
sentenced to two years imprisonment and 300 lashes each. Saudi
Arabia's King Abdullah waived the flogging sentence of the female
journalist, the second such pardoning of such a high profile case by
the monarch in recent years. He ordered al-Yami's case and that of
another journalist, a pregnant woman also accused of involvement in
the program, be referred to a committee in the ministry.
(AP, 10/24/09)(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 24, Pope Benedict XVI
appointed Cardinal Peter Turkson (61) of Ghana to head the Vatican's
justice and peace office, a high-profile post that cements his
reputation as a possible future papal candidate. Turkson's
appointment to his new post was announced at the end of a three-week
Vatican meeting on the role of the Catholic Church in Africa.
(AP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 24, Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe accused PM Morgan Tsvangirai of failing to
act in the national interest after withdrawing his support for the
country's fragile unity government, state media reported.
(AFP, 10/24/09)
2009 Oct 25, The New York
Yankees, baseball's biggest spenders, finally cashed in with their
first pennant in six years, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in
Game 6 of the AL championship series behind the savvy pitching of
Andy Pettitte.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In California a
fire broke out in the Santa Cruz Mountains between Morgan Hill and
Sant Cruz. The Loma Fire covered 485 acres and was only 20%
contained. The Loma Fire was fully contained on Oct 27.
(SFC, 10/26/09, p.A1)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A9)
2009 Oct 25, Lawrence Halprin
(b.1916), SF Bay Area landscape architect, died. His work included
the design of San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square in 1968 and the FDR
Memorial in Washington DC, completed in 1997.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 25, In Florida Jeffry
Picower (67) was found by his wife at the bottom of a pool at the
couple's sprawling oceanside Palm Beach mansion. He had suffered a
heart attack and died a short time later at a nearby hospital. He
was accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment
schemes of jailed financial manager Bernard Madoff.
(AP, 10/26/09)(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 25, Seymour Fromer
(87), founder of the Berkeley-based Judah Magnes Museum, died.
Fromer learned of Judah Magnes (1877-1948), the first ordained rabbi
in California, in an 1894 Oakland high school yearbook.
(SFC, 11/6/09,
p.C5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_Leon_Magnes)
2009 Oct 25, Henry P. Becton,
Sr. (b.1914), former Chairman of the Board for Becton Dickinson
Corp., died at his home in Maine. He was the son of BD co-founder
Maxwell W. Becton and saw BD grow from 600 associates and sales of
$2.5 million to 29,000 associates and over $7 billion in annual
sales.
(Echo, 12/09, p.1)
2009 Oct 25, In Afghanistan 2
American service members died, one in a bomb attack in the east, and
another wounds sustained in an insurgent attack in the same region.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Honduras the
body of Enzo Micheletti, the nephew of interim Honduran President
Roberto Micheletti, was found in Choloma. He had been shot to death
execution-style. The body of another, unidentified man was found
nearby. Gunmen killed army Col. Concepcion Jimenez outside his home
in Tegucigalpa. Honduras was noted for the highest homicide rate in
Central America, much of it related to drugs.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Iran UN IAEA
inspectors got their first look inside the Fordo uranium enrichment
site 20 miles north of Qom, a once-secret uranium enrichment
facility that has raised Western suspicions about the extent of
Iran's nuclear program.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Iraq 2 suicide
car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad, killing 155 people. The car
bombs targeted the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad provincial
administration. The explosions also injured some 500 people who were
taken to six area hospitals. 11 army officers and 50 security
officials were soon taken into custody over the bombings. Three
jailed suspects in the bombings later said they filmed the targeted
buildings before the attack and escorted the car bombs in a convoy
into Baghdad.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(AP, 10/30/09)(AP,
11/22/09)
2009 Oct 25, Israeli forces
stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine, firing stun grenades to disperse
hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh
eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the country.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Italy 4
policemen were questioned for allegedly attempting to blackmail
opposition leader Piero Marrazzo (51). The case centered on
widespread media reports that a video shows the center-left
politician in the company of a transsexual in a Rome apartment.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Energy giant BP
signed a deal with Jordan to explore for natural gas reserves in the
Risheh field near the border with Iraq in an investment that could
reach billions of dollars.
(AFP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Oil-rich Nigeria's
main militant group (MEND) called an indefinite cease-fire to
encourage dialogue with the government.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In northeastern
Pakistan a suicide bomber killed a police officer on a highway near
Jhelum city, about 60 miles south of Islamabad. The man taken into
custody told police they had planned to detonate the bomb in Lahore.
A minister for education was fatally attacked by gunmen in Quetta,
the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. A nationalist
group, the Baluchistan United Liberation Front, claimed
responsibility. Taliban militants attacked a security post in Hangu
district northwest of South Waziristan, killing one soldier.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 25, In southern Russia
Maksharip Aushev a prominent opposition activist in Ingushetia was
shot and killed by unidentified gunmen in at least the third such
killing in the North Caucasus region in just over three months.
Aushev died when several assailants sprayed his vehicle with
automatic gunfire from a passing car. A woman traveling with him was
badly wounded in the attack on a road in the neighboring province of
Kabardino-Balkariya.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Somalia
Islamist militants in the port town of Merca shot to death two men
accused by fighters of spying for the weak government.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, In Thailand Asian
leaders heard competing plans from Australia and Japan for a massive
EU-style community covering half the world's population as they
wrapped up their annual East Asian summit. Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva
said leaders of 16 Asian countries gave high priority to finding a
new economic growth model to free half the world's population from
merely serving as producers for the West.
(AFP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 25, Tunisians cast
ballots for president and parliament in elections expected to hand
another landslide victory to incumbent leader Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali (73), who warned opponents they would face legal retaliation if
they questioned the elections' fairness. Pres. Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali was re-elected for a fifth 5-year term with an overwhelming 89%
of the vote, his weakest performance yet but more than enough to
show his solid grip on the nation.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(Econ, 10/31/09,
p.59)
2009 Oct 25, Uruguay held
presidential elections. Voters faced a stark choice between: Jose
"Pepe" Mujica (74), an ex-rebel who yearns to create enduring
socialism or Luis Alberto Lacalle (69), a former center-right
president (1990-1995) who privatized government services and wants
to pull away from alliances with Latin American leftists. Mujica,
the candidate of the governing leftist Broad Front coalition, got
47.5% of the votes, just below the majority needed to win outright.
Conservative ex-president Luis Alberto LaCalle got 28.5%, and Pedro
Bordaberry of the Colorado Party 17%.
(AP, 10/25/09)(AP, 10/26/09)(Econ, 10/24/09,
p.44)
2009 Oct 25, Pope Benedict XVI
ended a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa with a call for peace
and reconciliation among all people on the continent, regardless of
ethnic and religious differences.
(AP, 10/25/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Afghanistan
Nangarhar province Gov. Gul Agha Sherzai survived an assassination
attempt after a gunman fired automatic weapons at his convoy in
Jalalabad. Sherzai's bodyguards killed the gunman, as well as
another attacker wearing a suicide vest and carrying grenades.
Security forces in Kabul fired automatic rifles into the air for a
second day to contain hundreds of stone-throwing university students
angered over the alleged desecration of Islam's holy book. US and
Afghan authorities have denied any such desecration and insist that
the Taliban are spreading the rumor to stir up public anger. A UH-1
and an AH-1 Cobra helicopter collided in flight before sunrise over
the southern province of Helmand, killing 4 American troops. Another
helicopter went down in the west of the country after leaving the
scene of a firefight, killing 10 Americans, including 7 service
members and 3 Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, British-based
Barclays bought the home loans and savings arm of insurer Standard
Life for ₤226 million, pursuing its expansion strategy after the
part-purchase of failed US titan Lehman Brothers last year. Standard
Life Bank, which has no retail branch network, was launched back in
1998.
(AFP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Iraq a car bomb
at a police checkpoint near Karbala killed at least 4 people.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In the Marshall
Islands traditional chief Jurelang Zedkaia was elected president by
a slender 17-15 margin, replacing Litokwa Tomeing who was ousted in
a no-confidence vote last week.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Mexico a band
of thieves swarmed into a railroad facility and held security guards
at gunpoint while making off with three dozen new automobiles and
trucks from a storage lot west of the capital.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 26, Mongolian PM Bayar
Sanjaa said he wanted to resign for health reasons, bringing new
political uncertainty to his impoverished but resource-rich nation.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, A key member of
Nigeria's ruling party and close associate of former president
Olusegun Obasanjo was sentenced to a total of 28 years in jail for
corruption. Bode George and five co-accused "were given 28 years on
the charges, but will serve two-and-half years since the sentences
will run concurrently." George and five other directors of Nigeria
Ports Plc were found guilty of fraud and contract inflation while
serving on the board of the state-run company during Obasanjo's
regime from 1999 to 2007.
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, Nigeria signed a
deal worth almost a billion dollars with a state-owned Chinese
engineering firm to resuscitate part of its dilapidated railway
system.
(AFP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, Kang Tong Rim (30)
defected into North Korea. The next day a South Korean military
statement said Kang had formerly served in an army division near
where a fence was found cut and he has been on a police wanted list
following his alleged involvement in an assault case in September.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, In Pakistan a
fight to secure Ghalai village, on the road from Kotkai to
Sararogha, left six soldiers and 10 militants dead, bringing to 197
the number of militants and to 30 the number of troops killed so
far.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, Pakistani police
arrested 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers for illegally
entering the country, amid tensions over a suicide attack on Oct 18
that Tehran alleges was carried out by militants backed by Pakistani
intelligence officials. The 11 officers were released the next day.
(AP, 10/26/09)(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 26, In South Africa
Harmony Gold Mining Co. said four workers were trapped underground
at its Target mine in the country's Free State province after ground
fell on them in a section of the mine.
(Reuters, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, South Korea
offered a small amount of food aid to North Korea, its first direct
assistance to the impoverished neighbor in nearly two years of
strained relations.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Oct 26, In South Korea Dr.
Hwang Woo-suk (56), a stem cell scientist, was convicted on criminal
charges relating to faked research, but avoided jail time.
(SFC, 10/27/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 26, Yemeni coast
guards seized a boat that illegally entered the country's
territorial waters and arrested five Iranians on board. Local media
reported the next day that an Iranian boat smuggling weapons was
captured and its Iranian crew arrested.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, President Barack
Obama formally renewed US sanctions on Sudan under his new strategy
of keeping up pressure while offering incentives to the Khartoum
government. Robert Cabelly (61), a former State Department employee
and US lobbyist, was charged with violating Sudanese sanctions
regulations, acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign power,
money laundering, passport fraud and making false statements.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, The NY Times
reported that the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been
getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency. The
paper said Ahmed Wali Karzai is a suspected player in Afghanistan's
opium trade and has been paid by the CIA over the past eight years
for services that included helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary
force that operates at the CIA's direction in and around the
southern city of Kandahar. Ahmed Wali Karzai denied reports that he
has received regular payments from the CIA for much of the past
eight years.
(Reuters, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Stanko Grmovsek
(40) a Canadian man, pleaded guilty to US and Canadian criminal
charges stemming from a 14-year insider trading scheme, a day after
his alleged accomplice, Bay Street lawyer Gil Cornblum, apparently
committed suicide.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Four months after
Michael Jackson's death, red carpets were rolled out for 18
simultaneous screenings on five continents for "This Is It," culled
from more than 100 hours of footage taken from rehearsals for the
pop icon's comeback.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Authorities
indefinitely closed the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after a rod
and a metal brace erected last month during an emergency repair job
fell onto the bridge's westbound lanes, startling a pair of drivers
who collided with the debris and leaving hundreds of others stranded
in their cars during the evening commute. Over 5,000 pounds of metal
crashed down onto traffic, totaling a couple of cars but leaving the
drivers largely unscathed. The bridge remained closed thru the
weekend.
(AP, 10/28/09)(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 27, Prof. August
Coppola, creator of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s Tactile Dome,
died in Los Angeles. Coppola, a former trustee of the California
State Univ. system, cofounded CSU’s Summer Arts Program in 1985, and
was instrumental in pushing the SF Board of Education in 1992 for a
High School of the Arts.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.C7)
2009 Oct 27, In Afghanistan 8
US troops died in "multiple, complex" bomb attacks in the south. One
Afghan civilian was also killed, and several other troops were
wounded and taken to a nearby medical facility.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Algeria and
Britain signed a new defense agreement. An embassy spokeswoman said
"This outline agreement aims to regularize cooperation between the
two countries in defense matters, particularly the training of
Algerian officers in Great Britain."
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, A jury in the
British Virgin Islands convicted dive shop owner David Swain of
drowning his wife, Shelley Tyre (46) during a 1999 scuba-diving trip
in what prosecutors called a near perfect murder. Authorities
charged Swain with murder after a 2006 civil trial in Rhode Island
found him responsible for his wife's death. That jury awarded Tyre's
family $3.5 million, but Swain filed for bankruptcy and has not paid
the sum. On Nov 10 a judge sentenced Swain to 25 years in jail. In
2011 Swain walked free after judges with the Eastern Caribbean
Supreme Court of Appeal found problems with the jury instructions
during the 2009 trial.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 11/10/09)(AP, 9/29/11)
2009 Oct 27, In Canada 2
coyotes attacked and killed Taylor Mitchell (19), a
singer-songwriter from Toronto, as she hiked alone in Cape Breton
Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 27, A Paris court
convicted the French branch of the Church of Scientology of fraud
and fined it more than euro600,000 ($900,000), but stopped short of
banning the group as prosecutors had demanded.
(AP, 10/27/09)(SFC, 10/28/09, p.A4)
2009 Oct 27, In Greece gunmen
on a motorcycle fired on a suburban Athens police station with
automatic weapons, wounding six police officers.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Greek authorities
said 3 adults and 5 children drowned in the eastern Aegean Sea when
a small boat carrying 17 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan hit
rocks near the shore and sank.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, US-based Human
Rights Watch said the Sept. 28 massacre by Guinean troops of at
least 150 people and the rapes of dozens of women at a pro-democracy
rally in Guinea were premeditated, and that rapes of kidnapped women
continued for days.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Iran’s state
television says Iran will agree to the "general framework" of a
UN-drafted plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for
processing, but will seek "important changes" in the deal.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Amnesty
International issued a report accusing Israel of pumping
disproportionate amounts of drinking water from the Mountain Aquifer
it controls in the West Bank, depriving local Palestinians of their
fair share.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, An Italian appeals
court upheld the conviction of British lawyer David Mills for
accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi. A
lower court found Mills guilty of corruption in May and sentenced
him to 4 1/2 years. In 2010 Italy’s highest court overturned a
guilty verdict against Mills, ruling that the stature of limitations
had expired.
(AP, 10/27/09)(SFC, 2/26/10, p.A2)
2009 Oct 27, The Japanese
destroyer JS Kurama collided with the South Korean container ship
Carina Star in the Kanmon Strait near the southern main island of
Kyushu and both were engulfed in flames.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Lebanon-based
militants launched a rocket into northern Israel hitting near the
Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. The attack drew a rapid response
from Israeli artillery, which shelled the launch area. No casualties
were reported on either side.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, A Lithuanian
lawmaker said there is no evidence that US airplanes with al-Qaida
suspects ever landed in the Baltic country. A recent report by ABC
News claimed the CIA had a secret prison in Vilnius from September
2004 through November 2005.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Mexican police
arrested Abel Valadez Oribe (32), who they say headed the operations
of the "La Familia" drug cartel in the western state of Michoacan.
Police found dismembered remains of a man in plastic bags by the
side of a road in Uruapan, another city in Michoacan. In Tijuana a
teenage girl (15) was killed by a stray bullet during a shootout
between police and gunmen. Reporters in Tijuana were invited by
military officials to a private, industrial property about 100 feet
south of San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing where Mexican
soldiers discovered a secret tunnel complete with electricity and an
air supply that may have been planned for smuggling migrants or
drugs under the US border into San Diego. 4 police officers were
killed by assailants who opened fired on them during a traffic stop
in the central Mexico city of Puebla.
(AP, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, At The Hague
Radovan Karadzic boycotted his UN trial for a second day while
prosecutors began outlining their genocide case against the former
Bosnian Serb leader.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, In Nigeria the
78-year-old father of ex-Central Bank of Nigeria governor Charles
Soludo was seized from his home. He was released on Nov 4. Soludo,
who left office in June, was last month controversially nominated
candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) for
upcoming state governorship elections. Aggrieved aspirants contested
the nomination in the courts.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Oct 27, Pakistan's army
pushed deeper into a Taliban sanctuary close to the Afghan border,
claiming to have killed 42 militants in the latest stage of an
offensive against extremists blamed for relentless attacks in recent
weeks. Authorities announced the arrest of the alleged mastermind
behind two recent bombings in the main northwest city of Peshawar.
(AP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, A UN official said
more than 300,000 children under the age of five die of preventable
diseases each year in Sudan, almost a third of them before they
reach the age of one month.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 27, Zimbabwe's PM
Morgan Tsvangirai and ministers drawn from his MDC party boycotted a
cabinet meeting led by Pres. Mugabe for the second time in as many
weeks. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) confirmed
that it will be sending its politics, defense and security body on a
fact-finding mission to Harare. The bloc mediated the unity pact
that underpins the government.
(AFP, 10/27/09)
2009 Oct 27, Venezuela’s
President Hugo Chavez said two Colombian spies have been captured
and will go on trail for conducting espionage within his country.
Colombia's security agency denied sending any agents into Venezuela.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, President Barack
Obama signed a defense bill into law containing a new provision to
pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency. The defense also
bill killed some costly weapons projects and expanded war efforts.
In a major civil rights change, the law also made it a federal hate
crime to assault people based on sexual orientation.
(Reuters, 10/27/09)(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Alabama a
federal jury convicted Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford on charges of
accepting bribes in exchange for funnelling $7.1 million in bond
business to an investment banker.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 28, In Anchorage Bill
Allen, an oil services executive at the heart of a federal
investigation of corruption in Alaska, was sentenced to 3 years in
prison and fine $750,000.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 28, A San Francisco
judge ordered the closure of Pink Diamonds, a Tenderloin strip club,
a directed its operator, Damone H. smith, to pay at least $688,500
in fines after he violated a court order to bring the club into
compliance with local and state laws.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 28, US federal agents
in Dearborn, Michigan, arrested several members of a radical Sunni
Islam group on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods
and the illegal possession and sale of firearms. Luqman Ameen
Abddullah (53), a Muslim prayer leader, was shot and killed with 21
gunshot wounds after he refused to surrender and fired a
weapon. He had not been charged with a crime. An investigation
into the killing was opened in 2010.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A6)(SFC, 2/3/10,
p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/yf57rdd)
2009 Oct 28, NASA launched its
327-foot Ares I-X, its new prototype moon rocket, skyward from Cape
Canaveral on a suborbital test flight at a cost of $445 million.
(SFC, 10/29/09, p.A7)
2009 Oct 28, In Afghanistan
Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and police uniforms stormed
a guest house used by UN staff in the heart of Kabul. 11 people were
killed, including 5 UN staff, 3 attackers, 2 security guards and an
Afghan civilian. Liberian election worker Yah Lydia Wonyene (47) was
one of the five UN staffers killed. It was the biggest in a series
of attacks intended to undermine next month's presidential runoff
election. The assault included rocket attacks at the presidential
palace and the city's main luxury hotel. Two NATO members were
killed in bomb blasts in the south, including one American.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Oct 28, Britain’s PM
Gordon Brown welcomed Indian President Pratibha Patil on the second
day of her state visit which he said showed growing ties between the
two nations.
(AFP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, The UN mission to
Congo (MONUC) said Congolese soldiers killed their unit commander
when he ordered them not to steal and pillage in eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo. The men involved were former Mai-Mai militia
members from the Congolese Resistance Patriots movement (PARECO) who
recently became part of the army.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, Angela Merkel was
sworn for a second term as German chancellor, a month after her
party won national elections.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Germany's Lutheran
Church elected Margot Kaessmann (51), the first woman to lead the
nation's Protestants.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Guinea tens of
thousands of workers went on strike to mark the one-month
anniversary of a massacre in which troops fatally shot pro-democracy
demonstrators and raped women in broad daylight. 10 people who
announced they were taking part in a hunger strike were arrested.
The next day they were taken to a restaurant where they were forced
to eat under threat of death. The 10 hunger strikers were released
on Oct 30, after being detained inside a shipping crate with
breathing holes.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 28, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said that questioning the results
of Iran's June presidential election is a crime.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Kurdish President
Massoud Barzani said the Kurds would not accept a proposed "special
status," referring to distinct voting rules specifically for Kirkuk
in Iraq's January election, which Kurds say would favor other
ethnicities.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 28, Kuwait's highest
court ruled that women lawmakers are not obliged by law to wear the
headscarf, a blow to Muslim fundamentalists who want to fully impose
Islamic Sharia law in this small oil-rich state.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Lebanese troops
found and dismantled four rockets near the border with Israel, a day
after a brief flare-up across the tense boundary.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, Mozambique held
elections. President Armando Guebuza was expected to retain power
and move to attract more foreign investors. On Nov 2 President
Armando Guebuza was declared the "landslide" winner by two election
monitoring groups. Frelimo, the ruling party since independence in
1975, had received 71% of the vote with 89% of polling stations
reporting. On Nov 11 election officials said President Armando
Guebuza won the landslide re-election with 75% of the vote. On Nov
17 the main opposition Renamo party said the ruling party stuffed
ballot boxes and expelled opposition monitors from polling stations
to help it win the presidential election.
(Reuters, 10/28/09)(AFP, 11/2/09)(AFP,
11/11/09)(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Oct 28, Norway’s central
bank became the first in Europe to tighten, raising its policy rate
to 1.5% from 1.25%.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.70)
2009 Oct 28, In northwestern
Pakistan a car bomb tore through a busy market in Peshawar, killing
105 people, mostly women and children. US Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton visited the country and pledged American support for
its campaign against Islamist militants.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Rwanda Dismas
Mukeshabatware, a member of Radio Rwanda's renowned Indamutsa
theatre troupe, was sentenced on charges of murdering a woman and
her three children in 1994 in the southern town of Butare. On Dec 16
he was acquitted on appeal.
(AFP, 12/16/09)
2009 Oct 28, Somalia’s PM Omar
Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said that many countries are fishing
illegally in Somali waters and have pushed formerly profitable
Somali fishermen into the pirate trade. "We estimate that the value
of the fish being taken from our waters is perhaps hundreds of
millions of dollars." 5 people were killed in fighting after
insurgents sent mortars toward the airport as the president was
arriving.
(AP, 10/28/09)(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 28, Somali pirates
exchanged fire with a French fishing vessel. They sped away, but
were soon stopped by a Spanish naval helicopter. 7 pirates were
detained on the German naval vessel, FGS Karlsruhe.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, In Thailand
suspected Muslim insurgents shot and killed two Buddhist civilians
in separate drive-by attacks in the insurgency-plagued south.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 28, The UN said
Zimbabwe's government has blocked a visit by Manfred Nowak, the UN’s
torture investigator who was to examine alleged attacks on
opposition activists by ruling party supporters.
(AP, 10/28/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US panel that
refers cases to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
announced that it was investigating two California Democrats, Reps.
Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, even as its embarrassed leaders
took pains to explain that several other lawmakers also were
identified in the leaked confidential committee memo but may have
done nothing wrong.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US Commerce
Dept. said the economy emerged from recession in the third quarter.
The US economy grew 3.5% in the third quarter, rebounding from a
year of contraction as the country emerged from prolonged recession.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US District
judge in San Jose awarded Facebook $711 million in damages in an
anti-spam case filed against online marketer Sanford Wallace, known
as the “Spam King.” Wallace filed for bankruptcy in June.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.D1)
2009 Oct 29, After months of
struggle US House Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation to extend
health care coverage to millions who lack it and create a new option
of government-run insurance.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, A US Coast Guard
airplane on a nighttime search for a boater collided with one of
four Marine Corps helicopters flying in formation to a military
training island off Southern California. All seven people aboard the
Coast Guard plane and the two-person crew of the Marine Corps AH-1W
Super Cobra helicopter were missing.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Cleveland,
Ohio, police found the remains of 6 bodies at the home of Anthony
Sowell (50) as they tried to arrest him on charges of felonious
assault and rape. Sowell, a convicted rapist, was arrested on Oct
31. 5 more bodies were soon found at Sowell’s home. The women had
begun disappearing in 2007. On July 22, 2011, Sowell was convicted
of killing 11 women.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A20)(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A10)(SFC,
7/23/11, p.A4)
2009 Oct 29, Algerian security
forces seized 3.5 tons of cannabis as well as weapons and two
all-terrain vehicles in the south of the country.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Brazil a
single-prop Cessna Caravan plane went down on the Itui River in a
remote part of the Amazon rain forest. Members of the Matis Indian
tribe found the plane with 9 survivors of 11 on board.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 29, The
Economist-sponsored Innovation Awards were handed out to 8 winners
in London. They included Craig Venter (Bioscience) for his
contributions to genomics; Ratan Tata (Business process) for
pioneering the globalization of corporate India; Raymond Kurzweil
(Computing and Telecom) for his work in artificial intelligence;
Steve Sasson (Consumer products and Services) for his contributions
to solar cell technology; Richard Swanson (Energy and Environment);
Mark Zuckerberg (No boundaries) for popularizing social networking;
Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen (Social and Economic Innovation) for
developing low-cost health devices; and Reckitt Benckiser (Corporate
use of Innovation), the world’s biggest maker of household cleaning
products, for its innovative and entrepreneurial corporate culture.
(Econ, 12/12/09, TQ p.10)
2009 Oct 29, Chinese officials
agreed to lift the ban on US pork imports they imposed last spring
out of fear of swine flu.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, In northern
Democratic Republic of Congo armed villagers killed at least 47
policemen trying to intervene in ethnic clashes.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In the Czech Rep.
farmers sprayed milk onto fields across the country to protest low
prices.
(SFC, 10/30/09, p.A2)
2009 Oct 29, The EU's stalled
reform treaty overcame a crucial hurdle after EU leaders agreed to
last-minute demands from the Czech Republic in return for the
country's ratification of the ambitious deal. Czech President Vaclav
Klaus had refused to sign the treaty until his country was an
offered an opt-out from its Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Czech
leader asked for the option over worries of property claims by
ethnic Germans stripped of their land and expelled after World War
II.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, African leaders
imposed a new barrage of sanctions Guinea's military rulers,
increasingly under fire in the wake of last month's massacre of
scores of opposition supporters.
(AFP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Honduras filed a
case at the UN's highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in
internal Honduran affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya
to stay at its embassy in Tegucigalpa since Sep 21. Representatives
of Zelaya finally reached an agreement with the interim government
that could help end the months long dispute over the June 28 coup,
and possibly pave the way for Zelaya's reinstatement. The agreement
would create a power-sharing government and bind both sides to
recognize the Nov. 29 presidential elections.
(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Hungary Laszlo
Majtenyi, the chairman of Hungary's national body in charge of
awarding frequencies (ORTT), announced his resignation after ORTT
took away 2 nationwide licenses from foreign-owned stations and gave
them to 2 local firms, one with links to Fidesz, the right-wing
opposition party.
(www.bbj.hu/?col=1002&id=50638)(Econ,
11/7/09, p.60)
2009 Oct 29, In India a huge
fire at an oil depot near Jaipur killed at least six people and
injured 150. Officials said it would be allowed to burn out as
firefighters had little hope of dousing it. The blaze was visible
from over 25km (16 miles) away.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, India banned
pre-paid mobile telephones in Kashmir, following concerns that
militants were using them to trigger bombs and hide their
identities.
(AFP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In Kuwait an
American soldier was killed in an accident.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, The US rubber
company Firestone said in a statement that it has conducted its own
extensive testing of discharge water in Liberia and found it was not
harmful to human health. The Liberian government has said a
three-month investigation found high levels of orthophosphate being
released into the water.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, Mexican
authorities said a woman's body was found buried headfirst in a
plastic container of cement in drug-plagued Tijuana.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Mongolia's
parliament confirmed Batbold Sukhbaatar, one of the country's
wealthiest men as the new prime minister. The former foreign
minister pledged to continue the pro-business policies of his
predecessor Bayar Sanjaa, who stepped down as prime minister this
week after seeking treatment for liver problems. Batbold made his
fortune between 1992 and 2000 as head of the trading company Altai
Trading Co. Ltd., which formed a gold mining joint venture with
Canadian Centerra Gold Inc.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, The Pakistani army
said troops were closing in on Kanigurram, described as an important
base of Uzbek militants and an Tehreek-e-Taliban operational centre,
saying that 11 militants and one soldier were killed.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Oct 29, Somali pirates
continued their rampage around the Seychelles and seized a
Thailand-flagged trawler, believed to be Russian-owned with a crew
of 25. Somali pirates currently held a total of nine ships and
around 200 crew. Pirates received a ransom and released the Thai
Union 3 on March 7.
(AP, 10/29/09)(AP, 3/7/10)
2009 Oct 29, In the US Virgin
Islands a small plane crashed into a field and burst into flames
shortly after taking off in St. Croix, killing all three people on
board.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 29, In eastern
Zimbabwe Elmon Mupombwa (41) killed three of his children with an ax
and wounded two others. He also torched his home and killed his
livestock — five cattle, 20 goats and 17 chickens — before hanging
himself. Police said Mupombwa had attended a tribal ritual conducted
by a spirit medium, also known as a witch doctor.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 30, Pres. Obama
announced an end to a 2-decade ban on people with HIV from entering
the country.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A8)
2009 Oct 30, US banking
regulators closed nine banks in California, Illinois, Texas and
Arizona. They were all divisions of privately held FBOP Corp. based
in Oak Park, Ill.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A15)
2009 Oct 30, The US Center for
Disease Control said at least 114 children have died from swine flu
complications since the spring, up from 95 a week earlier.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A5)
2009 Oct 30, SF Mayor Gavin
Newsom announced that he was dropping out of the race for governor
of California.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 30, In the San
Francisco Bay the tanker Dubai Star began leaking fuel oil after a
tank overflowed during refueling. Coast Guard officials later
estimated that some 400-800 gallons of toxic oil leaked into the SF
Bay killing at least 37 birds along the Alameda coastline.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.A1)(SFC, 11/3/09, p.C3)(SFC,
11/17/09, p.C2)
2009 Oct 30, Norton Buffalo
(58), harmonica virtuoso and long time member of the Steve Miller
Band, died of cancer in Paradise, Ca.
(SFC, 11/2/09, p.C1)
2009 Oct 30, In eastern
Afghanistan a taxi carrying nine civilians hit a bomb buried in the
road, killing everyone inside, including a mother and child.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The prime minister
of Bosnia's Serb half said he would pull out of talks on
constitutional reform led by the United States and European Union
set to speed up Bosnia's path to EU and NATO membership.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The British
government sacked David Nutt, the nation’s top drug advisor,
following his remarks that marijuana, ecstasy and LSD were less
dangerous than alcohol.
(SFC, 10/31/09, p.S2)
2009 Oct 30, The BBC said Anton
Turner (38), a British guide working on a children's television show
in Tanzania, was killed after being charged by an elephant. The show
"Serious Explorers" followed David Livingstone's famous 19th-century
trek across the African continent.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Canada an
Ontario judge approved the transfer of Canwest Global's flagship
National Post newspaper into a new holding company, a move that will
allow the money-losing daily to keep operating.
(Reuters, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Canada a
section of the mine about 500 meters (1,600 feet) below the surface
flooded at the Bachelor Lake gold mine of Metanor Resources Inc. in
northwestern Quebec. The bodies of all three missing miners were
recovered after 3 days.
(Reuters, 11/3/09)
2009 Oct 30, Ange-Felix
Patasse, the former president of the Central African Republic
(1999-2003), returned home after more than six years in exile. He
planned to stand in the 2010 presidential elections.
(AFP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In China a bus
plunged into a valley along a mountainous road in northern Shanxi
province, killing 13 people and injuring at least 40 others.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Colombia the US
ambassador and three Colombian ministers signed a pact in a private,
low-key ceremony, to expand Washington's military's presence, a deal
that Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has called a threat to the region's
security.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Congo's foreign
minister said India has offered Democratic Republic of Congo $263
million in loans to build hydroelectric plants and repair battered
infrastructure in the war-ravaged nation. The two countries agreed
to the final terms of the loan package this week during a four-day
visit by Foreign Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba to India.
(Reuters, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, European Union
leaders agreed to contribute to a euro50 billion ($74 billion)
annual aid fund that would help developing nations adapt to climate
change, but failed to set a firm figure for exactly how much the EU
would pay.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, The 16-deck Oasis
of the Seas, the world's largest cruise liner, began its maiden
voyage to Florida, gliding out from a shipyard in Finland with an
amphitheater, basketball courts and an ice rink on board. The ship
cost euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) and took two and a half years to
build at the STX Finland Oy shipyard in Turku.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Guatemala an
assistant to the judge handling the case of a man who blamed his
death on Guatemala's president was killed by gunmen. Court employee
Mark Monzon died of gunshot wounds in his car.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, Haitian lawmakers
ousted PM Michele Pierre-Louis in a power struggle that threatens to
undermine a campaign to attract foreign investment to the
impoverished country. President Rene Preval turned to Jean-Max
Bellerive, the minister of planning and external cooperation, as
nominee to be the next premier.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Honduras interim
President Roberto Micheletti and ousted Pres. Manuel Zelaya singed
the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. The power-sharing agreement
required Mr. Zelaya to drop his plan for a referendum on
constitutional reform.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.37)
2009 Oct 30, Indonesian
officials and fishermen said thousands of dead fish and clumps of
oil have been found drifting near the coastline more than two months
after an Australian underwater well began leaking in the Timor Sea
on Aug 21.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Two American
soldiers in Iraq died of noncombat related injuries in separate
incidents.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, Mexican
authorities said they have detained a large-scale drug trafficker
and also broken up a ring in Cuernavaca that allegedly laundered
around $37 million for a drug cartel. The army says it detained
Oscar Orlando Nava Valencia, the alleged leader of the "Valencia"
drug gang, and nine alleged associates in the western state of
Jalisco. Rights activists in the border city of Tijuana have hung
5,100 small white crosses on the fence straddling the US frontier to
commemorate migrants who have died trying to cross. Margarito Montes
Parra, the leader of a farmworkers' organization, and 14 other
people were killed in a mass shooting in the northern state of
Sonora. Local news media reported that Montes had led peasant and
squatters' movements involved in land seizures and that his group
has sometimes had violent clashes with rival claimants to land.
(AP, 10/31/09)(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 30, ING, the biggest
bank in the Netherlands, said that it would dismember itself by
splitting its banking and insurance business and selling its
American online banking arm.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.85)
2009 Oct 30, Pakistani forces
said they are closing in on a major Taliban base inside the militant
stronghold of South Waziristan, and announced it had killed 14
militants in a day of fighting. A total of 289 militants and 34
government soldiers have been killed in the offensive, according to
a tally of army figures. Six more militants have been arrested.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 30, In Puerto Rico new
Gov. Luis Fortuno's issued an order allowing large-scale development
inside a 3,200-acre parcel of land immediately north of El Yunque,
the only tropical rain forest in the US National Forest system.
Previous Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila had declared the Northeast
Ecological Corridor off-limits to all but small, eco-friendly
projects after a preservation campaign backed by actor Benicio del
Toro and attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Oct 30, President Dmitry
Medvedev told Russians that there can be no justification for the
Soviet government's crimes against its own people, lamenting
millions of deaths and "maimed destinies" in some of the strongest
criticism of the Communist era to come from the Kremlin since
Vladimir Putin came to power a decade ago.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 30, South Korea
announced plans to send troops to Afghanistan to protect its
civilian aid workers, two years after withdrawing its forces
following a fatal hostage crisis.
(AP, 10/30/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Mendota, Ca.,
searchers found the body of Alex Mercado (4) stuffed into a clothes
dryer. Raul Renato Castro (14) later told investigators that he
drowned his neighbor in a bathtub and then hid the body in a dryer
because the child was going to reveal that the teen had molested
him.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.C3)
2009 Oct 31, In Seattle, Wa.,
gunfire on a police patrol car killed police officer Timothy Brenton
(39). He became the first city police officer killed in the line of
duty since 2006. On Nov 6 suspect Christopher Monfort was shot by
police as he drew a gun on officers investigating the death of
Brenton. Monfort was in serious condition following surgery.
(SFC, 11/2/09, p.A5)(SSFC, 11/8/09, p.A14)
2009 Oct 31, US Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas and aides in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi before flying to
Israel, where she is expected to meet senior Israeli officials in a
push to restart peace negotiations. A senior Palestinian official
said the Palestinians are unlikely to resume negotiations if Israel
does not halt Jewish settlement building. After the talks Clinton
called for an unconditional resumption of peace talks and welcomed
Israel's offer for a slowdown in settlement activity.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Amrullah Saleh,
Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, said authorities have arrested
eight people, including one in Saudi Arabia, in connection with this
week's deadly attack on a guest house used by UN employees. He said
those arrested claimed the assailants came from Pakistan's Swat
Valley. In southern Helmand province a British soldier was killed in
an explosion. An American died of wounds suffered from a bomb
attack.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AFP, 11/1/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, A British
government official said the Royal Bank of Scotland, Northern Rock,
and Lloyds Banking Group are to sell off as many as 700 branches in
the next few years in exchange for the public aid they received
during the economic meltdown.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Canada 2 men
sought by the FBI and linked to a Detroit Muslim leader killed by US
authorities were arrested in Windsor, Ontario. Mohammad Al-Sahli
(33) and Yassir Ali Kahn (30) were wanted by the FBI for conspiracy
to commit federal crimes.
(Reuters, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, China's
legislature removed Zhou Ji (63), the country's unpopular education
minister, amid a corruption scandal in a city he used to oversee and
widespread public dissatisfaction with the education system.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Qian Xuesen
(b.1911), a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space
technology program, died in Beijing. Qian left for the US after
winning a scholarship to graduate school in 1936. He studied at MIT
and later at the California Institute of Technology, where he helped
start the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Qian, also known as Tsien
Hsue-shen, was regarded as one of the brightest minds in the new
field of aeronautics before returning to China in 1955, driven out
of the US at the height of anticommunist fervor.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Guatemala
gunmen killed one prison guard and wounded four others outside a
prison in Guatemala City.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, Senior Iranian
lawmakers rejected a UN-backed plan to ship much of the country's
uranium abroad for further enrichment, raising further doubts about
the likelihood Tehran will finally approve the deal.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, Italian police
arrested one of the country's most wanted mafia fugitives after
tearing down a wall in a dawn raid at a chicken farm near Naples
where he had built a hideout. Salvatore Russo (51), the head of a
Camorra clan carrying his name, had been sentenced to life in prison
for homicide and links to organized crime and was on the run since
1995.
(AFP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Mexico Mayor
Mauricio Fernandez told cheering supporters in San Pedro Garza
Garcia, near Monterrey, that "Black Saldana, who apparently is the
one who was asking for my head, was found dead today in Mexico
City." Hours later Mexican officials found four bound bodies in a
sport utility vehicle with hand-lettered messages identifying the
dead men as kidnappers. Hector “Black” Soldana was not identified
for another 2 days. Fernandez later said US authorities had tipped
him off that somebody intercepted cartel communications and learned
Saldana was planning to kill him, and he said unspecified
intelligence sources told him Saldana was dead hours before the
bodies were found.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Oct 31, Pakistani soldiers
closed in on two major Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, as
government jets pounded insurgent hide-outs and the prime minister
said the country had no choice but to defeat the militants.
Pakistani jets bombed three hide-outs of Taliban leader Hakimullah
Mehsud in the Orkazai tribal region, killing at least 8 militants
and wounding several others. Another airstrike, about 40 miles
(70km) from the first and near the Afghan border, killed 7 militants
in the Kurram tribal region. The army said government soldiers had
killed a total of 33 militants over the past 24 hours, discovered a
factory for making roadside bombs and seized a handful of weapons. 7
paramilitary soldiers driving through the Khyber tribal area were
killed in a roadside bomb planted by suspected Taliban militants. In
Karachi police arrested 3 suspected militants and seized 30
kilograms (65 pounds) of explosives and other weaponry.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, In Playa Blanca,
Panama, 2 teenage boys wounded an American and a Russian tourist in
a botched robbery attempt. Police announced the arrest of the 2
teenagers on Nov 3.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Oct 31, In the Philippines
Typhoon Mirinae, the 4th since late September, battered Manila and
surrounding provinces, sending residents of one town clambering onto
rooftops to escape rising waters. 20 people wee left dead with east
5 missing.
(AP, 10/31/09)(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Oct 31, A Russian news
agency reported that Moscow plans to buy a French amphibious assault
ship, the first such purchase from a NATO country, as the Kremlin
seeks to reaffirm Russia's global reach.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, Ahmed Gadaf, a
self-described spokesman for Somali pirates, said that boats from
other countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct 31, The Ukrainian
government ordered schools nationwide to close for 3 weeks due to
swine flu, which has left 33 people dead. Public gatherings were
also banned and restrictions on travel were imposed to stop the
spread of the virus.
(SSFC, 11/1/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 31, The Vatican said
it will admit married Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood
case by case. In no case could a married man become a bishop, and
the new rules would exclude any married Anglican bishop from
retaining that post.
(AP, 10/31/09)
2009 Oct, Ryan Lister, Mattia
Pelizzola and their colleagues of the Salk Institute of California
published their results on the US government Roadmap Epigenome
Program, a look at how the activity of genes regulates the 220 of so
different cells of the human body.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.93)
2009 Oct, Researchers found
that a bug named xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus
(XMRV) occurred in 67% of patients suffering from chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS). The bug had already been implicated in prostate
cancer, breast cancer and lymphoma.
(Econ, 1/9/10, p.80)
2009 Oct, The Bin Laden family
went under the spotlight in "Growing Up Bin Laden," written by Omar
bin Laden and his mother, Najwa bin Laden. In Dec, 2009, Omar bin
Laden, revealed that many of the children who had been with their
father in Afghanistan escaped to Iran following the 2001 US-led
invasion, and were still together in a walled compound under Iranian
guard.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2009 Oct, In the Democratic
Republic of Congo fighting broke out between two tribes, the Lobala
and the Bombona, in a dispute over rich fishing waters in Dongo, 200
km (125 miles) south of Gemena, the main town in the Sud-Oubangui
district. The clashes left some 270 people dead. A 600-strong unit
of commando reinforcements wrested back control of the Dongo region
on December 13.
(AFP, 12/3009)
2009 Oct, In Iran Yusuf
Nadarkhani (30) was arrested and condemned to death for apostasy
under Islamic sharia law. He had turned to Christianity when he was
19 and later became a pastor in the northern city of Rasht. The
conviction was upheld in 2010. In July, 2011, the supreme court
overturned the death sentence and sent the case back to the court in
his hometown in Gilan province.
(AP, 9/29/11)(AP, 10/2/11)
2009 Oct, In Lithuania Egle
Kusaite (20) was detained in an undercover operation after police
received a tip about her alleged connections to Chechen rebels and
radical Islamic groups. She was detained on suspicion of plotting a
suicide attack against an undisclosed Russian military target.
Information about her detention was kept quiet until her court
hearing in May, 2010.
(AP, 5/4/10)
2009 Oct, Turkish ministers
traveled to Baghdad and Damascus to sign a package of 48
co-operation deals with Iraq and 40 with Syria, covering everything
from tourism to counter-terrorism and joint military exercises.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.57)
2009 Nov 1, CIT Group Inc., a
lender to small businesses, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection with the backing of most bondholders in a so-called
“prepackaged” filing.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.70)
2009 Nov 1, Meb Keflezighi
(27), an Eritrean born American citizen, won the New York City
Marathon (2:09:15). Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia was the women's winner
(2:28:52).
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, Sister Marguerite
Bartz (64) was found dead on the Indian reservation of Navaho, NM.
On Nov 6 Reehahlio Carroll (18) was charged with premeditated
killing in the slaying Bartz.
(SFC, 11/7/09,
p.A4)(http://cbs5.com/national/nun.found.dead.2.1288177.html)
2009 Nov 1, Afghanistan
Challenger Abdullah Abdullah pulled out of the nation’s run-off
election, plunging the country into fresh political chaos as
international pressure grew for the race to be scrapped. After
Karzai snubbed a series of demands promoted by his rival as a chance
to avoid a repeat of massive first-round fraud, Abdullah said he saw
no point in standing, but stopped short of calling for a boycott.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A boat carrying 39
apparent asylum seekers sank in the Indian Ocean far from shore. A
Taiwanese fishing trawler and the merchant ship LNG Pioneer arrived
in the area and deployed life rafts and began plucking people from
the water. The stricken ship was in Australia's maritime search and
rescue zone when it sent out distress calls. Up to 11 were still
missing, and one person was confirmed dead.
(AFP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, PTTEP Australasia
attempted to plug a leaking well of the West Atlas drilling rig when
a fire then broke out on the rig. The operation to stem the leak has
involved the Thai-based operator towing the West Triton rig from
Singapore, which took five weeks, to drill down some 2.6km under the
seabed to the source of the emissions. The leak has dumped thousands
of barrels of oil into the Timor Sea since it began on August 21.
The blaze was brought under control on Nov 3 when experts managed to
plug the leak that has spewed tons of crude over the past 10 weeks.
(AP, 11/1/09)(AFP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 1, In China a ship
carrying 100 tons of hydrochloric acid sank in the Yangtze river
after colliding with another vessel.
(AFP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, It was reported
that hundreds of former Chilean military draftees were making a
provocative offer to Chile's government: They would reveal details
of crimes committed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, but
only if their safety is guaranteed.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Honduras the US
secretary of labor, Hilda Solis, and a former Chilean president,
Ricardo Lagos, were named to a commission tasked with monitoring the
creation of a power-sharing government, under a US-brokered
agreement to end the nation's 4-month-old political crisis.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, In southern Iraq a
bomb attached to a bicycle near Hillah killed five people and
wounded 37. In the western city of Ramadi, two people — including a
policeman — were killed when twin car bombs exploded minutes apart
in the visitors' parking lot of the city's Traffic Police
Directorate. 3 people were killed when a bomb that was detonated
remotely exploded on a bus as the vehicle approached a police
checkpoint in the southern city of Karbala.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Israeli security
officials said authorities have arrested Jack Teitel (37), a
Jewish-American extremist suspected of carrying out a series of
high-profile hate crimes.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Kosovo thousands
of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in the
capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton as he
attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself
on a key boulevard that also bears his name.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Mexican soldiers in
the border city of Tijuana detained a group of 13 suspects after a
shootout that wounded a soldier and a gunman. Soldiers raided and
destroyed three methamphetamine labs in the western state of
Michoacan. The raids netted five suspects and more than two metric
tons of apparent methamphetamine.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 1, US Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Morocco for a series of
meetings with Arab leaders to discuss Middle East peace and other
issues.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Mohamud Said Omar
(43) was arrested at the request of US authorities in an asylum
seeker's center in Dronten, Netherlands. US authorities suspected
Omar of bankrolling the purchase of weapons for Islamic extremists
and helping other Somalis travel to Somalia in 2007 and 2008. He had
a US green card and was also suspected of recruiting youth in
Minneapolis for Islamic terrorism in Somalia.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Pakistan
military jets and helicopter gunships pounded militant positions in
and around Makeen. Government forces have laid siege to Sararogha,
captured all the important features and ridges overlooking the town
and cleared half of Kaniguram, a hub of Uzbek militants. 9 militants
and two soldiers were killed in fighting, taking the militants'
death toll to 331 in 16 days of fighting.
(Reuters, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, In Palau 6 Chinese
Muslims, ethnic Uighers, newly released from Guantanamo Bay, traded
life behind bars for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific
nation, which agreed to a US request to resettle them.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, The Palestinians
accused US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of undermining
progress toward Mideast peace talks after she praised Israel for
offering to curb some Jewish settlement construction.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A Russian
heavy-lift military cargo plane crashed on takeoff in Siberia,
killing all 11 crew members on board.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, A Saudi Arabia
Interior Ministry spokesman said authorities have discovered large
quantities of weapons in the capital Riyadh belonging to al-Qaida
terror network. The discovery included 281 assault rifles and 51
ammunition boxes.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 1, Somali pirates
hijacked a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship with 18 crew off the east
coast of Africa, the latest in an increasing number of attacks. The
hijacking of the al-Mizan was not reported until Nov 10 when the
bandits demanded a $3 million ransom. The ship was reported released
on Nov 23. The pirates asked for and received $15,000 for
"expenses." A self-proclaimed pirate named Abdi Nor said that
pirates did not demand a ransom since the ship was bound for
Mogadishu and carried goods owned by Somalis.
(AP, 11/10/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 1, Somaliland defense
minister Saleban Warsame Guled said a roadside bomb in the country's
semiautonomous northern region has killed two people, including
Osman Yusuf, an infantry division commander.
(AP, 11/1/09)
2009 Nov 2, President Barack
Obama thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her country's
"sacrifice" in keeping forces in Afghanistan, noting she was being
honored as the first German leader to address a joint session of
Congress.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, The new US Navy
assault ship New York arrived at Pier 88. The 684 foot, $1 billion
ship was included 7½ tons of steel in its hull from the World
Trade Center.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A11)
2009 Nov 2, Traffic opened on
the SF Bay Bridge after 6 days of emergency structural repair.
Engineers expected that it would be closed again in few months for a
permanent fix.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 2, Afghanistan's
election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of
the country's tumultuous ballot. The cancellation of the runoff vote
came one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah
announced he was pulling out of the Nov. 7 vote. The commission had
the authority to make the decision because the Afghan constitution
only allows for a runoff between two candidates.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Brazil some 1.5
million evangelical Christians joined the annual "March for Jesus,"
an event sponsored by a church whose leaders recently returned after
being imprisoned in the US for money smuggling.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, A top UN official
announced that the UN has withdrawn its support for Congolese army
units operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing
its soldiers of killing 62 civilians.
(AFP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, French-born writer
Marie Ndiaye (b.1967) won France's top literary prize for "Three
Strong Women," her moving tale of the struggles of women in Europe
and Africa. She was born in Pithiviers, to a French mother and a
Senegalese father and currently lived in Berlin.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, The International
Monetary Fund said it has sold 200 metric tons of gold worth $6.7
billion to India's central bank as part of an effort to shore up IMF
finances and increase low-cost lending to developing countries. The
purchase put gold at 6% of India’s reserves and helped push the
price of gold to over $1,100 a troy ounce.
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.86)
2009 Nov 2, In Iraq an American
soldier died of noncombat related injuries.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Japan it was
revealed that PM Yukio Hatoyama had failed to declare some $800,000
in income from stock sales. He already faced flak for falsified
fundraising reports.
(SSFC, 11/8/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 2, In Kashmir the
bodies of 2 senior rebels, mauled to death by a wild bear, were
recovered. Police said they were members of the region's most
powerful group, Hizbul Mujahedin and had been active in Indian
Kashmir for more than six years.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Mali the burned
debris of a Boeing cargo plane was discovered on Nov. 2 in the Gao
region. It was assumed to have landed on a clandestine landing strip
and either failed to take off again or was destroyed on purpose.
Ample traces of cocaine were found on board. Drug smugglers had
flown the plane from Venezuela, unloaded it and torched it. In 2010
it was reported that drug smugglers were buying old jets and flying
them across the Atlantic to feed Europe’s growing coke habit.
(AP, 12/3/09)(SFC, 11/16/10, p.A6)
2009 Nov 2, In Mexico El Tiempo
de Durango journalist Jose Bladimir Antuna was kidnapped in the
morning. Authorities found his body the same night in a vacant lot
in the Durango state capital, about 400 miles southwest of Laredo,
Texas. The bodies of three men with bullet and knife wounds were
found by relatives in the southern state of Guerrero.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber killed 35 people outside a bank in Rawalpindi, as the
UN said spreading violence has forced it to start pulling out some
expatriate staff and suspend long-term development work in areas
along the Afghan border. Hours after the first blast, another
suicide bomber struck in Lahore, exploding a car at a police
checkpoint as officers went to search it. At least 7 policemen were
injured and two were in critical condition. Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas
said the army had captured the town of Kaniguram, one of the
Taliban's bases, and killed 12 more militants in the past 24 hours
of the offensive.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, Panama's government
said it is building four air and sea monitoring stations on its
Pacific coast to fight trafficking of drugs, weapons and migrants.
Assistant Interior Minister Alejandro Garuz said the sites will be
manned by the national police, border agents and other government
agencies.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In the central
Philippines a fire swept through a residential building as people
slept in a slum community, killing 16 residents including women and
children.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Russia Shabattai
Kalmanovitch (60), a prominent businessman, was shot dead in Moscow.
He had been convicted in Israel in 1987 of being a KGB spy.
(SFC, 11/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 2, The Swiss
government said it has handed banking documents over to Argentina in
a $25 million dollar corruption probe linked to former President
Carlos Menem and French defense company Thales.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, A Thai official
said about half of Thailand's national lawmakers are taking
advantage of a new government plan allowing them to purchase guns at
a discount and receive a license to carry them anywhere.
(AP, 11/2/09)
2009 Nov 2, In Venezuela a lone
gunman approached Gustavo Gonzalez, a member of the Copei opposition
party, at a restaurant, fatally shot the politician in the head and
fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. 2 National Guard
soldiers were shot multiple times at a roadside checkpoint near the
border with Colombia. Prosecutors believed the troops were attacked
by four men on two motorcycles. Johan Manuel Mora Rodriguez (20) was
detained at a National Guard checkpoint near where the killings
occurred in western Tachira state.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 2, Tropical Storm
Mirinae slammed into Vietnam's central coast, unleashing heavy rains
and winds and forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate before
losing steam as it moved inland. The storm killed at least 98
people. Mirinae also killed two people in Cambodia and left 19
people dead and three missing in the Philippines.
(AP, 11/2/09)(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, The US began a new
policy of engagement with Myanmar's ruling military junta, sending
two senior diplomats for the highest-level visit in more than a
decade.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Democrats suffered
humiliating gubernatorial losses in traditionally Democratic New
Jersey and in Virginia. In New Jersey Chris Christie still defeated
Gov. Jon Corzine by 4 points — the largest victory by a New Jersey
Republican in nearly a quarter-century. In Virginia Bob McDonnell
cruised to an easy victory in the governor’s race, leading a sweep
of the state’s three top offices that decisively ended a string of
Democratic victories in the state.
(Politico, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, In California
Democrat John Garamendi (64) won the US House seat vacated by Rep.
Ellen Tauscher, who has taken an arms control job in the State Dept.
(SFC, 11/6/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 3, Voters in Maine
repealed a state law that would have allowed same-sex couples to
wed. Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been
put to a popular vote.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, NYC voters gave a
narrow win to Mayor Michael Bloomberg over Bill Thompson. Bloomberg
was reckoned to have spent some $100 million to win his 3rd term.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.30)
2009 Nov 3, In North Dakota 3
female Dickinson State Univ. softball players were found dead after
their sport utility vehicle went into a pond on a farm during a
stargazing trip on Nov 1. Authorities said they likely drove
straight into the water in the dark.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Philadelphia,
Pa., transit workers went on strike after rejecting a proposed
contract that included an 11.5% wage increase over 5 years.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 3, Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Corp., making a $34 billion bet on the future of the US economy.
Berkshire already owned over a fifth of BNSF and took on about $10
billion of Burlington debt bringing the size of the deal to $44
billion.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 3, New Jersey-based
Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health products company,
said it will cut over 7,000 jobs due to lagging demand amid the
global recession.
(SFC, 11/4/09, p.D2)
2009 Nov 3, Afghanistan's Pres.
Karzai welcomed his new term, by reaching out to opponents and
promising to banish the corruption that has undermined his
administration. In northern Kunduz province, Afghan and
international troops have been fighting for two days to take the
Taliban-held town of Ghor Tapa. About 200 insurgents were holed up
in the town, including foreign fighters, mostly Chechens. 11
insurgents and one Afghan soldier were killed. A "rogue" Afghan
policeman gunned down five British soldiers at a checkpoint in
Helmand province, fuelling growing questions about the Afghan
mission.
(AP, 11/3/09)(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 3, African countries
boycotted meetings at UN climate talks in Barcelona, saying that
industrial countries had set carbon-cutting targets too low for
reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Britain pressed
ahead with a fresh wave of restructuring in its crisis-ravaged
banking system, as Lloyds Banking Group PLC sought at least 21
billion pounds ($34.2 billion) through a record share issue and debt
swap. World stock markets mostly fell amid renewed concerns about
the banking sector after Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland PLC got
more government help and Switzerland's UBS AG booked another massive
charge.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, The British
government said survivors of the Darfur conflict will no longer be
deported from Britain, after concerns about a deterioration in
conditions in the Sudanese capital. The Home Office said asylum
seekers will have the right to remain in Britain for up to five
years, or until the situation improves in Sudan.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In China a woman
called the "godmother" of a mafia-style gang in the southern city of
Chongqing was sentenced to 18 years in prison for running
underground casinos and bribing government officials.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Senior Lord's
Resistance Army commander Charles Arop, who was implicated in
leading a massacre on Christmas Day that killed at least 143
Congolese, surrendered to the Ugandan military stationed in the
northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, Czech President
Vaclav Klaus signed the EU reform treaty, completing the
ratification process of a charter designed to transform Europe into
a more unified and powerful global player.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Equatorial
Guinea Simon Mann (57), a British coup-plotter, and four South
African mercenaries, pardoned for attempting the overthrow the
government of the tiny oil-rich African nation, were freed from
prison. Mann, who was born into a world of wealth and privilege, had
been serving a 35-year sentence in Equatorial Guinea for the 2004
plot.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Europe's court of
human rights ruled the display of crucifixes in Italian public
schools violates religious and education freedoms under the
continent's rights convention. The court ordered Italy to pay a
$7,390 fine to a mother who has fought for 8 years to have
crucifixes removed from public school classrooms. The Vatican
denounced the ruling.
(AP, 11/3/09)(SFC, 11/4/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 3, Nokia Siemens
Networks, a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. and Siemens
AG of Germany, said it will lay off up to 5,700 workers globally as
part of a move to cut annual costs by euro500 million ($740
million).
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Claude Levi-Strauss
(b.1908), Brussels-born French intellectual, died. He was widely
considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included
theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial
societies. His books included literary and anthropological classics
such as "Tristes Tropiques" (1955), “La Pensee Sauvage” (1962)
published in English as "The Savage Mind" (1963), and "The Raw and
the Cooked" (1964).
(AP, 11/3/09)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.106)
2009 Nov 3, Mexican police and
soldiers killed Miguel Angel Meneses, a federal agent driving one of
three cars that ignored orders to stop in Chihuahua, triggering a
chase and gunbattle. Federal police and navy personnel shot to death
a top Zetas cartel suspect in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. The
navy said suspect Braulio Arellano Dominguez was the reputed leader
of the Zetas, a gang of hit men tied to the Gulf Cartel.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 3, Maj. Gen. Amos
Yadlin, Israel’s military intelligence chief, said Hamas militants
in Gaza have successfully test-fired an Iranian rocket able to reach
Israel's largest urban center. He said the rocket could fly 37 miles
(60km), and strike metropolitan Tel Aviv.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Morocco US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a package of measures
designed to help businesses and non-governmental groups around the
Muslim world. Clinton made the announcement at the sixth Forum for
the Future conference in Marrakech, which she attended for two days.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Mozambique's main
opposition party claimed that polls that gave a landslide victory to
the southern African country's ruling party were rigged.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, North Korea said it
has reprocessed 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods and extracted enough
plutonium to bolster its atomic stockpile, raising the stakes in an
apparent effort to push the US into direct negotiations.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, In Pakistan a
passenger train smashed into a cargo train on the edge of Karachi
killing 16 people, including women and children. The army announced
that 21 militants had been killed in the past 24 hours in South
Waziristan and that government forces were continuing to press into
Taliban territory. Militant leader Hakimullah Mehsud spoke to his
followers in a speech broadcast over a wireless radio network. Of
those who do run away, he warned, "Such people will go to hell."
(AFP, 11/3/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 3, In the Philippines
government troops attacked an Abu Sayyaf camp in the rebels'
southern stronghold before dawn, triggering a five-hour clash in
which five of the al-Qaida-linked militants were killed and one
government militiaman was wounded.
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Rwanda said it has
urged the UN to list the Rwandan Hutu rebel group operating in
eastern Congo as a terrorist organization.
(AFP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Francisco Ayala
(103), Spanish novelist and sociologist, died in Madrid. He was one
of Spain's leading scholars and had gone into exile during the
country's decades of dictatorship. Ayala published his first book,
"Tragicomedia de un hombre sin espiritu" (Tragicomedy of a Man
Without Spirit), in 1925. The collapse of moral order and the
hopelessness of human relations are also common themes in
pessimistic and satirical novels such as "Muertes de Perro" (Death
as a Way of Life) and "El Jardin de Las Delicias" (Garden of
Delights).
(AP, 11/3/09)
2009 Nov 3, Unidentified gunmen
infiltrated from Yemen and attacked Saudi security guards patrolling
the Mount Dokhan border area. 3 senior security men were killed.
(AP, 11/5/09)(Econ, 11/7/09, p.47)
2009 Nov 4, The New York
Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6, finally
seizing the World Series crown, the team's first since winning three
straight from 1998-2000, making it championship No. 27.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, US federal
prosecutors In NYC charged 53 people with running open-air drug
markets at two housing projects near Yankee Stadium. Early morning
raids had resulted in 37 arrests along with seizures of cash, guns
and stockpiles of heroin and crack cocaine.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 4, US federal
prosecutors said Alan Huey (53), a former top executive of SK Foods,
has agreed to plead guilty to taking part in a 4-year conspiracy in
which the California tomato processor bribed food companies and
mislabeled tomato paste that exceeded government mold standards.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 4, The US Dept. of
Agriculture said pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested
positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been
found in such hogs.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A9)
2009 Nov 4, The city council of
Red Bluff, Ca., approved 2 measures banning the growth and sale of
medical marijuana, which contradicts current state law.
(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 4, In South Carolina
Rodell Vereen, caught on video having sex with a horse, was
sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty for the
second time in two years to abusing the creature.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In western
Afghanistan 2 US paratroopers went missing while trying to recover
airdropped supplies from a river. The body of one soldier was
reported found on Nov 11.
(AP, 11/6/09)(AP, 11/7/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Australia a
stabbing rampage at a secure psychiatric hospital left two people
dead. The next day Peko Lakovski (49) was charged with two counts of
murder after reportedly attacking his room-mate Raymond Splatt with
a kitchen knife, before turning on another patient who was in bed at
the time.
(AFP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, British lawmakers
will be banned from using taxpayers' money to make mortgage payments
on second homes or hiring family members as staff under new rules
published today in the wake of a scandal over legislators'
allowances.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Cambodia said it
has appointed former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as
economic adviser to premier Hun Sen and his administration.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Canada senior
health officials in Alberta said they had fired an unidentified
worker for giving National Hockey League players preferential access
to the H1N1 flu vaccine.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, In China a guard at
an unofficial jail in Beijing pleaded guilty to raping a young
detainee, in a case that has put a spotlight on "black jails" where
a growing number of people seeking justice from the government end
up. The woman (21), from central Anhui province, had been expelled
from college because of poor exam scores and came to Beijing to ask
the government to reinstate her. The woman escaped the "black jail"
with about 50 other detainees after the guard fled following the
alleged rape. On Nov 12 Human Rights Watch said the unofficial black
jails have evolved into a cottage industry and blamed a civil
service evaluation system that penalizes officials if too many of
their people complain to the central government. It was estimated
that some 10,000 people were detained annually.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 4, El Salvador's
defense minister said the army will send an additional 2,500
soldiers to crime-plagued parts of the country to increase security.
In the first 10 months of the year, there were 3,673 homicides in El
Salvador, up from 3,179 in all of 2008. Many killings involved
street gangs.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Fiji’s military
leader Commodore Bainimarama booted out the High Commissioners of
Australia and New Zealand. He said they were interfering with his
efforts to replaced judges he sacked in April. He said relations
would be restored only in 2014.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.53)
2009 Nov 4, Germany's
politicians fumed with anger and Opel workers canceled cost
concessions and readied walkouts after General Motors Co. abandoned
the sale of its European subsidiary to parts maker Magna
International and Russian lender Sberbank.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In southern India
at least eight children drowned when a boat carrying at least 35
students capsized on the Chaliyar river in the Malappuram district
of Kerala state.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Iranian security
forces beat anti-government protesters with batons on the sidelines
of state-sanctioned rallies to mark the 30th anniversary of the US
Embassy takeover. The counter-demonstrations were the opposition's
first major show of force on Tehran's streets in nearly two months.
Iranian reporter Farhad Pouladi was taken into custody as he headed
to cover a state-sanctioned rally outside the former US Embassy.
Anti-government protesters also clashed with anti-riot police during
counter marches not far from the rally. Police detained 109 people
for "disturbing public order" during an opposition rally. 62 of
those detained were handed over to judicial authorities for trial
and the rest were released after questioning. Among those detained
were a Japanese reporter and 2 Canadian reporters.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/5/09)(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC,
11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 4, A 4.9-magnitude
earthquake struck Bandar Abbas, a key port city in southern Iran,
injuring at least 700 people and cutting power and telephone lines.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Iraq 2 American
soldiers died, one in combat and one of noncombat-related injuries.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Israeli commandos
seized a ship that defense officials said was carrying more than 60
tons of missiles, rockets and anti-tank weapons bound for Lebanon's
Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas. The vessel Francop was operated
by United Feeder Services, a Cyprus-based shipping company that said
it picked up the cargo in Damietta, Egypt.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, An Italian judge
found 23 Americans and two Italians guilty in the kidnapping of an
Egyptian terror suspect, delivering the first legal convictions
anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA's
extraordinary renditions program. The Americans and Italian agents
were accused of kidnapping Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as
Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003, in Milan, then transferring him to U.S.
bases in Italy and Germany.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Mexican authorities
said 3 doctors and a nurse have been arrested for allegedly selling
newborns after telling mothers their babies had died at a private
hospital in Mexico City.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Mexico floods
killed at least three people in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco
where authorities struggled to persuade thousands of people to leave
their inundated homes. Heavy rains have caused several rivers to
overflow their banks flooding the homes of more than 50,000 people.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Mexico a gang of
gunmen killed Sgt. David Booher, an off-duty US airman, and five
other people at a strip club in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. A
group of gunmen, believed to belong to the Gulf cartel, arrived at
the home of Garcia Mayor Jaime Rodriguez to give him a "scare." As
the group was leaving, they crossed paths with Brig. Gen. Juan
Arturo Ezparza, who was driving to the mayor's home after hearing
about the threat. The gunmen sprayed Ezparza's car with bullets,
killing him along two former soldiers and two municipal police
officers escorting the general. Kidnappers snatched an American
woman (21) from her car in Tijuana and threatened to kill her unless
they were paid $200,000. She was released on Nov 7 and 3 kidnappers
were arrested.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/5/09, p.A2)(AP,
11/6/09)(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 4, Morocco ordered the
immediate departure of a Swedish diplomat accused of handing
official Moroccan documents to Western Sahara-linked "separatists."
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, In Myanmar a top US
official held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi as the ruling junta gave
the democracy icon a rare break from house arrest during
Washington's highest-level visit here in 14 years. Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell
also met PM Thein Sein as part of efforts by the Obama
administration to re-engage with the hardline military regime.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, A Nigerian senior
health official said a fresh cholera outbreak has killed 20 people
and left 200 others infected in northern Adamawa State in the past
week.
(AFP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Pakistani soldiers
battled Taliban fighters in the streets of Ladha, a key militant
stronghold, as government forces pressed ahead with their offensive
in the tribal region of South Waziristan. The military said fighting
over the past day left 10 militants dead in Ladha and 30 dead across
the region. A group of militants ambushed a van as it traveled near
Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal region, killing two female
teachers and wounding two other passengers.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 4, Paraguay President
Fernando Lugo fired his military chiefs, a day after denying he had
worries about a coup amid calls for his impeachment. Hortensia
Damiana Moran (40), a religious activist who worked on President
Fernando Lugo's election campaign, filed a petition asking a judge
to order a DNA test to prove Pres. Lugo is the father of her son
Juan Pablo. She became the third woman to file a paternity claim
against Paraguay's Roman Catholic bishop-turned- president.
(AP, 11/4/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, Saudi Arabia
launched a large military incursion across the border into northern
Yemen, using fighter jets and artillery bombardments to try to end a
Shiite rebellion inside its troubled southern neighbor.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 4, The London-based
indigenous rights group Survival International said Swine flu has
appeared among the Yanomami Indians of Venezuela, one of the largest
isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon. A local doctor and that
the virus is suspected in seven deaths, including six infants.
(AP, 11/4/09)
2009 Nov 5, At Fort Hood,
Texas, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan (39) shot 13 people dead. Hasan,
a psychiatrist, was among 30 people wounded in the shooting spree
and remained hospitalized on a ventilator. Kimberly Munley (34), a
civilian police officer, shot at Hassan and was herself shot in both
thighs and the wrist. Sgt. Mark Todd shot at Hasan and brought him
down. Soldiers reported that the Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an
Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire. Hasan was
apparently set to deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A10)(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 5, Bernard Kerik (54),
former NYC Police Commissioner, pleaded guilty to 8 felonies
including lying to the white House while being considered for chief
of Homeland Security and lying on tax returns. On May 17, 2010, he
began serving a 4-year sentence for tax fraud, lying to the White
House and other felonies.
(SFC, 11/6/09, p.A8)(SFC, 5/18/10, p.A4)
2009 Nov 5, Afghan villagers
said an overnight rocket strike by international forces killed nine
civilians, including at least 3 children. Local authorities said
they had no reports of civilian deaths. Residents of Korkhashien
village drove the bodies to the governor's office in the nearby
provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. In eastern Khost province,
several hundred people demonstrated against an overnight raid that
killed a resident of Baramkhil village. NATO said the man was a
militant who was killed when Afghan and international forces were
pursuing an insurgent leader who had been recruiting foreign
fighters to the area. The Afghan Defense Ministry said 17 militants
have been killed in three separate clashes in the last 24 hours. 3
NATO service members, including 2 Americans, were killed in two
bombings in the south.
(AP, 11/5/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A3)
2009 Nov 5, Cambodia and
Thailand recalled their ambassadors from each others' countries,
deepening a diplomatic row after Cambodia made fugitive former Thai
PM Thaksin Shinawatra an economic adviser.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, China’s Xinhua News
Agency said Xu Wei (42), a former gang leader who was the son of
Yushu's former deputy mayor., was executed this week in northern
China after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, and extortion. In
a earlier separate case his father, Xu Fengshan, was sentenced to
death with a reprieve of two years for taking more than 20 million
yuan (2.93 million U.S. dollars) in bribes, and harboring criminal
organizations.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 5, Finland and Sweden
approved a Baltic Sea pipeline project that would ship Russian
natural gas to Germany, clearing two key obstacles for construction
to begin next year.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, In France security
workers picked up euro11.6 million ($17.2 million) in cash at the
Banque de France branch in Lyon. They then stopped at another bank
and while two security workers were inside that bank, the driver
made off with the cash. Loomis identified the alleged thief as Tony
Musulin (39). As no violence was involved in the theft, Musulin
risked only three years in jail if caught and charged. On Nov 9 Lyon
Prosecutor Xavier Richaud said euro9.5 million ($14.25 million) in
cash was found in a storage space near a railway track where police
earlier found the security truck used in the theft. On Nov 16
Musulin handed himself in to police in Monaco. Musulin was convicted
on May 11, 2010, and sentenced to 3 years in prison.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)(AP,
11/9/09)(AFP, 11/16/09)(SFC, 5/12/10, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, In Germany
thousands of Opel workers, fearing widespread layoffs, walked off
the job to protest General Motors Co.'s decision to abandon the
unit's sale to new owners.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, A consortium
grouping US and European oil giants Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal
Dutch Shell PLC signed a $50 billion deal to develop one of Iraq's
most prized oil fields, as the OPEC nation looks to revamp its
battered energy sector. The deal to develop the 8.6 billion West
Qurna Stage 1 field is the third such agreement in less than a week
between a foreign oil consortium and Iraq, which sorely needs
foreign company expertise and funding to revive an oil sector
hammered by years of neglect, sanctions and, most recently sabotage.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Lithuania's
parliament voted to investigate allegations that the Baltic state
hosted a secret CIA prison for al Qaeda suspects.
(Reuters, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Five Mexican police
officers and five other suspects were arrested in the investigation
into the assassination of Brig. Gen. Juan Arturo Ezparza, who had
been appointed police chief of the northern Mexican town of Garcia
over the weekend. 3 bullet-ridden bodies were found in different
towns around the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. The bodies all had
their hands and feet tied and were found next to threatening
messages. One was found along the highway connecting the resort
towns of Acapulco and Zihuatanejo. The Mexican army seized a
shipment of almost a quarter-ton of opium in the country's northern
mountains, one of the largest such seizures made in Mexico. A
policeman was killed and four other were wounded in an attack by
gunmen in Guerrero state. Another body was found in the Gulf coast
state of Veracruz with its arms and legs mutilated and its head
hacked off.
(AP, 11/6/09)(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 5, In the Netherlands
the UN war crimes tribunal decided that former Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic will be appointed a lawyer to represent him
whenever he fails to appear in court.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Tropical Storm Ida
grew to hurricane force just off Nicaragua's coast, forcing more
than 2,000 people to flee their homes and knocking out power to some
parts of the impoverished region.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Pakistani security
forces arrested three Iranians suspected of planning a suicide
attack in Iran's southeastern region last month which killed 42
people. Militants blew up a girls' school in the Khyber tribal
region, but no one was injured. Missiles believed fired by US drones
killed two alleged militants in a northwestern tribal region.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas pushed Mideast peace prospects into unknown
territory, announcing he doesn't want another term and opening the
way to a succession battle that could play into the hands of his
rival, the militant Hamas.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 5, Peru’s defense
minister said Shining Path rebels attacked a military outpost in the
country's coca-producing highlands, killing one soldier and wounding
three.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Memorial, a Russian
rights group, said Chechen authorities have abducted Arbi
Khachukayev, a human rights advocate in Moscow, who has been
critical of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, A Moscow court
approved the arrest of a man and a woman suspected in the January 19
killing of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova. The male
suspect, ultranationalist Nikita Tikhonov, confessed to the crime
after his arrest saying he did so out of “personal enmity” for one
of the victims.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 5, Somali pirates
captured a Greek-owned bulk carrier with 21 crew on board. The
carrier, which is flagged in the Marshall Islands, had been heading
to Zanzibar but was last seen 300 miles east of Mombasa, Kenya. The
ship and crew were released on Dec 17.
(AP, 11/5/09)(AP, 12/18/09)
2009 Nov 5, The UN said at
least 50 peacekeepers have received punishments ranging from
reduction in military rank to eight months imprisonment for
committing sexual abuses on United Nations missions since 2007.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, The UN said that it
will send more than half its international staff either out of
Afghanistan or into more secure compounds following last week's
deadly Taliban attack against UN workers, the most direct targeting
of its employees during decades of work in the country.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 5, Zimbabwe's rival
leaders met with Mozambican leader Armando Guebuza, the head of a
regional security body, ahead of an emergency summit aimed at
hauling a fragile power-sharing deal out of a three-week impasse.
The summit was set to open with leaders from the Democratic Republic
of Congo, South Africa, Swaziland and Zambia.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Nov 6, The US Labor Dept.
said the unemployment rate has surpassed 10% for the first time
since 1983, and that it was expected to go higher. Unemployment in
October hit 10.2% with some 16 million jobless Americans. President
Barack Obama was set to sign a $24 billion economic stimulus bill
providing tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and extending
unemployment benefits to the longtime jobless.
(AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 6, US banking
regulators shut down United Commercial Bank of San Francisco. The
government had invested $300 million from the Treasury’s Troubled
Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the parent UCBH Holdings. The assets,
loans and 63 branches of UCBH were sold to East West Bank of
Pasadena. China Minsheng Bank soon wrote off its 10% stake in UCBH.
In 2011 federal authorities filed criminal fraud charges against
former executives at the bank.
(SSFC, 11/29/09, p.D1)(Econ, 5/15/10, SR
p.18)(SFC, 10/12/11, p.D1)
2009 Nov 6, In Orlando,
Florida, Jason Rodriguez (40), a former engineer, fatally shot Otis
Beckford (26) and wounded five others at the firm where he once
worked. The next day his attorney later said Rodriguez is "very
mentally ill" and crumbled under the stress of his divorce,
bankruptcy and unemployment. Rodriguez was an entry-level engineer
at Reynolds, Smith and Hills for 11 months before he was fired
in June 2007. On Jan 4, 2010, Rodriguez was declared incompetent to
stand trial.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 1/5/10, p.A5)
2009 Nov 6, In Afghanistan
fighting between members of a joint search operation and insurgents
in western Afghanistan left 4 Afghan soldiers, three policemen and a
civilian interpreter dead. It appeared that an airstrike during the
search for two US paratroopers mistakenly killed 8 Afghans and
wounded more than 20 Afghan and American forces. The deputy governor
of the southern province of Zabul, Ali Khail, said NATO forces
raided an Afghan Red Crescent office in the city of Qalat, killing a
security guard and arresting three local Red Crescent employees.
NATO issued a statement saying coalition forces killed a militant
and arrested a few suspected militants, including someone who was
helping insurgents transport weapons and bomb-making materials to
the area.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Two British
ticketholders shared a jackpot of 90 million pounds ($150 million)
in the EuroMillions competition, the largest lottery prizes ever
paid out in the UK.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, British Airways
revealed a quadrupling of net losses in its first half, and axed an
extra 1,200 jobs in an "essential" cost-reduction program.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Toronto, Canada,
was awarded the 2015 Pan American Games by beating Bogota, Colombia
and Lima, Peru on the first ballot in a vote in Guadalajara, Mexico.
(Reuters, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao headed to Egypt for a summit with African leaders as Beijing
bids to expand its diplomatic and economic influence on the
resource-rich continent.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In Cuba Yoani
Sanchez, acclaimed dissident blogger, was forced into an unmarked
car, beaten, threatened and dumped onto a street..
(Econ, 11/21/09, p.40)
2009 Nov 6, Guyanese President
Bharrat Jagdeo alleged that recent arson attacks and shootings in
his nation are the work of a mastermind living in the US. 3
attackers dressed as police officers firebombed a wooden,
colonial-era courthouse and a nearby school on Nov 4, and later shot
at two police stations, wounding one officer in the jaw and another
in the ankle.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya said that a US-brokered pact failed to end a
four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity
government passed.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In northern India a
crowded bus plunged down a steep mountain gorge, killing 32 people
near Baner Khud, Himachal Pradesh state.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Japan pledged $5.5
billion in aid over 3 years for Southeast Asia's 5 Mekong River
nations (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), seeking to
deepen ties with the region amid growing influence from China.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Madagascar's
political rivals agreed on posts within a transitional government
that will hold power until next year's elections following a power
struggle that brought months of volatility to the country.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 6, Mexican police
caught Marco Antonio Ibarra in the northern city of Culiacan. The
former prison official had spent a year on the run from charges of
killing a 19-year-old inmate, whose beating death in Sep, 2008,
sparked riots that left nearly two dozen dead, including two
American prisoners. Noel Martinez, a district supervisor for the
police in Ciudad Juarez, was shot and killed inside his car.
(AP, 11/7/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 6, The Pakistani army
entered Makeen, the last of three militant strongholds targeted by a
major offensive in the northwest, as gunmen wounded a senior army
officer and a solder in Islamabad. Police shot and killed two
would-be suicide bombers in Balakot. The two men opened fire on
police when their car was intercepted at a checkpoint in the North
West Frontier Province.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Saudi Arabia said
it carried out airstrikes against "infiltrators" from Yemen that
were limited to areas inside Saudi territory, and vowed to press on
with the military action until the border with its restive neighbor
was secure. In Yemen, however, a military official said Saudi forces
continued to shell rebel position in Saada.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, In Scotland finance
ministers from the world's leading rich and developing countries to
begin the difficult negotiations over how to even out the imbalances
weighing on the world economy.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, The aid agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) warned that
Southern Sudan is facing a "serious outbreak" of the deadly kala
azar tropical disease. Kala azar, or visceral leishmaniasis, is a
neglected tropical disease contracted by the bite of a sand fly,
endemic in some parts of southern Sudan. Without treatment, almost
all victims die within one to four months. If treatment is received
on time, some 95% can recover.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Turkey rebuffed an
EU call to reconsider its decision to allow Sudanese President Omar
al-Beshir, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur, to attend a
summit in Istanbul. Turkey has not signed the Rome Statute which set
up the ICC and has said previously the ICC arrest warrant for Beshir
could hurt moves to end the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, A UN report said 2
Iranian businessmen working at a Dubai-based firm were linked to
video surveillance devices sold to Sudan and used in unmanned drones
in Darfur in violation of a UN arms embargo.
(Reuters, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 6, Zimbabwe averted a
political meltdown after PM Morgan Tsvangirai ended a boycott of the
unity government, but faced a new deadline to resolve a slate of
thorny disputes. He said assurances South Africa will be watching
persuaded him to end his boycott.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 7, The
Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care
reform legislation (220-215), handing President Barack Obama a hard
won victory on his signature domestic priority.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, In western
Afghanistan an American service member was killed in an insurgent
attack. A British soldier was killed by an explosion in the southern
province of Helmand. In the east militants twice attacked a fuel
supply convoy as it traveled along a main supply route between
Pakistan and Kabul. Police said at least two private security guards
and a policeman were wounded in the attacks.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, African Union Peace
and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said the AU has
implemented sanctions on Guinea's military rulers.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Australian
authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country's
east coast as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities,
stranding thousands of people.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, British boxer David
Haye (29) won the WBA Heavyweight crown against 7-foot, 2-inch
Russian Nikolai Valuev in a 12-round bout in Germany. Haye became
the first Briton to hold a world heavyweight crown since Lennox
Lewis retired in 2003.
(AFP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, China’s PM Wen
Jiaobao sought to reassure the world's Muslims about his country's
goodwill towards them in Cairo, at a time when Beijing is criticized
for the treatment of its own Muslim minority.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Senior Iranian
lawmakers rejected any possibility of Tehran shipping uranium abroad
for further enrichment, intensifying pressures on the government to
reject the UN-backed plan altogether. Iranian authorities released 3
journalists who were among more than 100 people arrested during
pro-government and opposition street demonstrations on Nov 4.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Italian
paramilitary police arrested Luigi Esposito in Posillipo, a northern
coastal suburb of Naples. Esposito, on the run since 2003, was using
a wig and false name when captured. Esposito was said to be an
expert money-launderer, who funneled illicit cash from drug
trafficking into tourism and other businesses for the Camorra crime
syndicate.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 7, In Japan a
66-year-old man was hit by a car and killed. Investigators later
linked a US Army soldier to the hit-and-run accident in Okinawa. On
Jan 7 Clyde Gunn (27), a staff sergeant from Oxford, Mississippi,
was charged with the fatal hit-and-run.
(AP, 11/19/09)(AP, 1/7/10)
2009 Nov 7, Lebanon's
Syrian-backed factions finally agreed on a unity government proposed
by their pro-Western rivals, ending a four-month deadlock in the
deeply divided country.
(AP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 7, Pakistan's military
said it had killed 12 Taliban militants as government troops pressed
a major offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering
Afghanistan. Two teachers and a student were injured when suspected
militants hurled a hand grenade at a girls' school in Quetta, the
capital southwestern Baluchistan province.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 8, Afghan Pres. Karzai
pledged that there would be no place for corrupt officials in his
new administration, a demand made by Washington and its
international partners as they ponder sending more troops to
confront the Taliban and shore up his government. Some 350 Taliban
prisoners began a hunger strike at a prison in Kandahar.
(AP, 11/8/09)(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, Brazil’s private
Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo,
expelled Geisy Arruda (20) for wearing a short, pink dress to class,
publicly accusing her of immorality. Arruda made headlines after an
Oct. 22 incident, in which she had to be escorted away by police
after wearing the mini-dress to class. The dean of the private
college in suburban Sao Paulo released the next day announcing a
decision to reinstate her. On Oct 6, 2010, Judge Rodrigo Gorga
Campos ordered Bandeirante University to pay Geisy Arruda 40,000
reals ($23,800) in damages.
(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/10/09)(AP, 10/7/10)
2009 Nov 8, At the start of the
two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt China's Premier
Wen Jiabao pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African
nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the
government debts of some of the poorest of those countries.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Colombia said it
will appeal to the UN Security Council and the OAS after Hugo
Chavez, the fiery leftist president of neighboring Venezuela,
ordered his army to prepare for war in order to assure peace.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, The Democratic
Republic of Congo government said security forces in an overnight
raid on the town of Dongo have arrested about 100 armed men blamed
for killing dozens of policemen in an attack in the country's
isolated north last month.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, In El Salvador a
wave of floods and landslides killed at least 192 people following
three days of heavy rains. Dozens of people were missing in a
mudslide that swept down on the town of in Verapaz. Hurricane Ida's
presence in the western Caribbean late last week may have played a
role in drawing the rain-packed Pacific low-pressure system toward
El Salvador.
(AP, 11/8/09)(AP, 11/11/09)(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 8, In India joyous
Buddhist pilgrims welcomed the Dalai Lama back to the Himalayan town
he first set foot in five decades ago while fleeing Chinese rule in
his native Tibet, a rare trip close to his homeland that has angered
Beijing.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, In Iraq 2 American
pilots were killed in a helicopter crash while a Marine died of
noncombat related injuries in a separate incident.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 8, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded market in
Adazai, 10 miles south of Peshawar, killing anti-Taliban Mayor Abdul
Malik, who had formed a militia to fight the militants, and 11 other
people. The latest fighting in the Taliban heartland killed 20
militants and wounded eight soldiers.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Saudi Arabia’s
assistant defense minister said Saudi forces have taken control of
Dokhan mountain straddling the border with Yemen and cleared it of
Shiite rebels, in five days of fighting that saw three soldiers
killed and 15 wounded.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 8, Turkey said that
Sudan's internationally indicted leader, President Omar al-Bashir,
will not attend the Nov 9 Istanbul summit of the 57-nation
Organization of the Islamic Conference.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, Pennsylvania Gov.
Ed Rendell said the Philadelphia transit strike has ended and that
system would be up and running for the morning commute.
(SFC, 11/9/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 9, Tahir Sheikh Fakhar
(56) of Hayward, Ca., was killed early this morning when the big rig
he was driving went off the SF Bay Bridge new S curve, plunging 200
feet onto Yerba Buena Island.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A1)(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 9, US giant Kraft
Foods launched a hostile 9.8-billion-pound takeover bid for Cadbury
which the British confectioner rejected.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, General Motors said
that it would invest C$90 million ($85.1 million) to expand a joint
venture plant in Canada where it builds the Chevrolet Equinox and
GMC Terrain crossovers.
(Reuters, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, The Afghan Ministry
of Public Health said that 710 of the 779 cases of H1N1 reported
since early July have been among Afghan, US and Italian troops. The
11 people who have died from the virus were all Afghans, including
one soldier.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, NATO said that 700
members of the Afghan security forces and 50 international troops
were involved in a clearing operation in northern Afghanistan. NATO
said Afghan and foreign troops have killed more than 130 insurgents,
including 8 Taliban commanders, in six days of fierce fighting
during a major offensive in the Charhar Dara district in Kunduz.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In eastern Chad a
French Red Cross staff member was abducted by several armed men,
close to the border with Sudan. Laurent Maurice was freed in Sudan
on Feb 6.
(AFP, 11/10/09)(AP, 2/7/10)
2009 Nov 9, China said it had
put to death nine people over deadly ethnic unrest in its
far-western Xinjiang region, the first executions since the rioting
in July.
(AFP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In China Hu Shuli,
the founder and editor of the 11-year-old Caijing financial
magazine, resigned. He had tackled tough subjects and his departure
cast doubts over greater media independence.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 9, In Colombia at
least nine soldiers were killed and four wounded in combat with
leftist rebels in a mountainous western region.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 9, In central
Indonesia 6.7 undersea earthquake killed one person, injured dozens
and damaged hundreds of houses on remote Sumbawa Island. Local
officials said torrential rains have triggered a series of
landslides on Sulawesi island, killing at least 14 residents and
burying many more.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, Lebanon’s PM Saad
Hariri formed Cabinet that included the militant group Hezbollah and
its allies, ending a months long deadlock.
(SFC, 11/10/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 9, In Malawi two
opposition leaders were convicted of sedition and inciting violence
while campaigning. A judge sentenced each to 20 months in prison
with hard labor. These were the first sedition convictions since the
late dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda's 1963-1994 rule.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Mexico gunmen
burst into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and opened fire in a
violence-plagued Chihuahua City, killing one person and wounding
four others. In the Pacific coast state of Colima state police
captured Aaron Lopez Garcia (31), a violent gang member who was one
of America's 15 most wanted fugitives by US Marshals.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber in a rickshaw detonated his explosives near a group
of policemen at an intersection on the main road that circles
Peshawar, killing 3 people. A roadside bomb killed two paramilitary
troops and wounded a third in Salarzai town in the Bajur tribal
region. Militants shot and killed a senior police officer in the
main town of Khar as he was leaving his office. Fighter jets pounded
militant hide-outs in three villages in the Kurram tribal region,
killing eight suspected fighters.
(AP, 11/9/09)
2009 Nov 9, In Saudi Arabia Ali
Sibat (49), a Lebanese psychic who made predictions on a satellite
TV channel from his home in Beirut, was sentenced to death for
practicing witchcraft. He was arrested by religious police in Medina
during a pilgrimage there in May, 2008. In 2010 Saudi authorities
said Sibat would not be beheaded. A 3-judge panel said that there
was not enough evidence that Sibat's actions harmed others. They
ordered the case to be retried in a Medina court and recommended
that the sentence be commuted and that Sibat be deported.
(AP, 11/25/09)(AP, 4/21/10)(AP, 11/13/10)
2009 Nov 9, The EU Naval Force
said pirates in two skiffs fired automatic weapons and
rocket-propelled grenades at the Hong Kong-flagged BW Lion about
1,000 miles (1,600 km) east of the Somali coast. The ship avoided
the attack and no casualties were reported. Some 14 Somali pirates
seized a Yemeni fishing boat, the Al Hilal or Al Halil.
(AP, 11/9/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A New Jersey man,
Amir Mohamed Meshal, detained for 4 months in Ethiopia on
allegations of supporting Islamic militants before being allowed to
come home, sued the FBI agents involved in his interrogations. He
returned to New Jersey, where he was born and raised, in May 2007.
US authorities in Washington have said they had interviewed Meshal
in Kenya and that they determined he was not a threat and had not
violated US law. The State Department also said it formally
protested his deportation from Kenya to Ethiopia.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, In NYC Ralph
Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, former executives at Bear Stearns, were
acquitted of lying to investors about the state of the
subprime-stuffed hedge funds they ran at Bear Stearns. The funds’
collapse caused losses of $1.6 billion.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.85)
2009 Nov 10, Utah’s Mormon
church for the first time has announced its support of gay rights
legislation, an endorsement that helped gain unanimous approval for
Salt Lake city laws banning discrimination against gays in housing
and employment.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Bhagwan Chowdhry,
finance professor at the Univ. of California, began to campaign for
his Financial Access @ Birth (FAB) program. The idea was to provide
every newborn child an online bank account with $100, untouchable
until the child reached age 16.
(Econ, 3/6/10, p.92)(http://tinyurl.com/ycuyspz)
2009 Nov 10, Activision
released its new video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Sales
over the next 5 days brought in $550 million breaking records in
several countries.
(Econ, 12/5/09,
p.77)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Warfare_2)
2009 Nov 10, In Virginia sniper
John Allen Muhammad (48) refused to utter any last words as he was
executed, taking to the grave answers about why and how he plotted
the killings of 10 people that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area
for three weeks in October 2002.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Robert Cameron
(b.1911), SF-based photographer known for his aerial photos of
landmarks, died at his home in Pacific Heights.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 10, In Afghanistan a
US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, An Australian
student sparked fears of a new era of computer viruses after
creating a worm which infects Apple's iconic iPhone with pictures of
1980s pop star Rick Astley.
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, The
hotly-anticipated video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" was
launched in Britain amid a political row over its levels of
violence.
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Colombian
authorities said they have seized $19 million in forged US currency
so far this year, five times the amount confiscated last year. A
statement from the Presidency's press office said 16 people have
been arrested in Colombia and the US in connection with the seizures
and seven illegal counterfeiting print shops have been dismantled.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ethiopia announced
the discovery of a mine containing more than 40 tons of gold deposit
worth 1.7 billion dollars (1.1 billion euros).
(AFP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, German soccer
star, goalkeeper Robert Enke (32), threw himself in front of a train
at a level crossing in the small town of Neustadt am Rubenberge,
near Hanover. Earlier, Enke's doctor Valentin Markser revealed the
player had an acute fear of failure and had been treated for
depression since 2003 following a difficult transfer to Barcelona
and subsequent loan to Turkish side Fenerbahce. Hanover police
confirmed Enke left a suicide note.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Haiti’s lawmakers
overwhelmingly gave final approval to Jean-Max Bellerive as the new
prime minister, making him the sixth person to hold the post since
2004.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Indian officials
said at least 43 people have been killed in landslides caused by
torrential rains in the Nilgiris hills in the southern state of
Tamil Nadu.
(Reuters, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Iran announced it
will use Italy to launch a communications satellite after waiting
years for Russia to do the job.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Ramin
Pourandarjani (26), an Iranian doctor, died amid conflicting reports
of a heart attack, a car accident or suicide, raising opposition
accusations that he was killed. Authorities had barred the
family from performing an autopsy on the body. He had gone public
with reports of tortured protesters he treated at Tehran's most
feared detention facility, known as Kahrizak on Tehran's outskirts.
Pourandarjani, a general practitioner, was the only doctor there,
serving there once a week as part of his mandatory military
service. Prosecutors later alleged that he died of poisoning
from an overdose of an anti-hypertension drug in his salad, fueling
opposition fears that he was killed because of what he knew about
the abuse.
(AP, 11/18/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 10, Israel's army
chief said Hezbollah guerrillas now possess tens of thousands of
rockets, some capable of reaching the country's major cities.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Japan announced $5
billion in fresh aid to Afghanistan even as it plans to bring home
refueling ships supporting US-led forces there. The pledge came just
days before President Barack Obama arrives in Tokyo for talks that
are sure to focus on the countries' military alliance.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Libya signed an
agreement with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to join
forces to crack down on organized crime in the Maghreb region.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, In Mexico Tabasco
authorities announced that police had detained 7 suspected members
of the Zetas drug gang, including two teenagers. In the northern
city of Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, a man's tortured
body was found hanging from a highway overpass. The unidentified man
had his hands tied behind his back and was hung by the neck.
Monterrey Mayor Fernando Larrazabal said that 276 traffic police
officers and administrative officials were fired for failing tests
designed to detect corruption and ineptitude. 526 officers who
performed poorly were ordered to undergo more training, and 340 were
determined fit for the job.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A badly damaged
North Korean patrol ship retreated in flames after a skirmish with a
South Korean naval vessel along their disputed western coast. South
Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that a North
Korean patrol boat crossed the disputed western sea border about
11:27 a.m. (0227 GMT), drawing warning shots from a South Korean
navy vessel. The North Korean boat then opened fire and the South's
ship returned fire before the North's vessel sailed back toward its
waters.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, In Pakistan a
suicide car bomb ripped through a packed shopping street in
Charsadda, a small market town, killing 26 people in the third
militant attack in northwest in as many days. The military said that
troops had uncovered a private Taliban jail, destroying a network of
rebel caves, bunkers and towers while nine militants were killed
during the last 24 hours of operations.
(AFP, 11/10/09)(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, A Saudi Arabian
government adviser says the kingdom has imposed a naval blockade on
northern Yemen's Red Sea coast to try to prevent weapons and
fighters flowing to Shiite rebels in the area.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, Somali pirates
seized a Greek cargo ship, the 150 m (492 ft) Marshall
Islands-flagged MV Filitsa, after a 5-hour chase across the Indian
Ocean. 3 Greek officers and 19 Filipino sailors were aboard the
ship, which was carrying bulk urea from Kuwait to South Africa.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 10, Nigerian football
star Stephen Worgu (20) was fined and sentenced to 40 lashes in
Sudan after being convicted of drunk driving in Khartoum. Worgu said
he was stopped by police driving home late from dinner at a friend's
house in August. No tests were done but officers told the court they
had smelled the home-brewed spirit aragi on his breath.
(Reuters, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 10, Thailand's ousted
PM Thaksin Shinawatra, whose political battle against his successors
has left his country bitterly divided, received a warm welcome in
neighboring Cambodia, which shares his disdain for the current
government in Bangkok.
(AP, 11/10/09)
2009 Nov 10, The Vatican
presented results of a 5-day conference that gathered experts to
discuss astrobiology, the study of the origin of life and its
existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
(SFC, 11/11/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 10, Yemeni authorities
were reported to be hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether
he has al-Qaida ties. The radical American imam, who communicated
with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooting suspect, and
called him a hero, was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving
religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Al-Awlaki, a
US citizen born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, had preached at a
Virginia mosque that Hasan's family attended.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Andy Warhol’s 1962
painting “200 One Dollar Bills” sold for a record $43.8 million at a
Sotheby’s auction in NYC.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.F8)
2009 Nov 11, Hewlett-Packard
Co. said it will acquire 3Com Corp. in a $2.7 billion deal that
would put HP in direct competition with Cisco Systems in networking
technology.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 11, Scientists in
South Africa said that a newly discovered dinosaur species that
roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how
the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land. The Aardonyx
celestae was a 23-foot- (7-meter-) long small-headed herbivore with
a huge barrel of a chest. The species walked on its hind legs but
could drop to all fours.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber on a motorcycle detonated his explosives near a NATO
military convoy in the province of Zabul, killing a man and a woman
and wounding another three passers-by.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The Australian
Capital Territory, home to the nation's parliament, became the first
Australian region to legalize civil partnership ceremonies for
same-sex couples, in a move supporters hoped would spark national
momentum.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Brazil emerged
from a widespread power outage that plunged its major cities and at
least nine states into darkness for over 2 hours, prompting security
fears and concern from residents about another black eye for a
country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. Transmission problems had
knocked one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams offline.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The British Home
Office said DNA of innocent people arrested then cleared without
charge will be held by the government for no more than six years.
(AFP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, Cypriots gave a
guarded response to Britain's offer to hand back half its remaining
three percent of Cyprus's landmass if rival sides on the ethnically
split island reach a peace deal.
(Reuters, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, The leaders of
France and Germany appeared together at a ceremony in Paris, for the
first time since World War I, to commemorate the end of the
conflict, saying it is now time to celebrate their countries'
reconciliation and friendship.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Ghana the roof
of an illegal gold mine collapsed killing 15 people, including 13
women, in one of the worst mining disasters to hit the African
nation.
(AFP, 11/12/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 11, Iran executed
Ehsan Fattahian (28), a Kurdish activist, at a prison in Sanandaj.
He was a member of the Party of Free Life in Kurdistan, a militant
group outlawed by Iran.
(SFC, 11/12/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 11, The Israeli
military released a series of documents and photos it said proved
Iran was behind a massive shipment of weapons Israel's navy
commandos intercepted last week. Among the arms Israel says it found
aboard the vessel were 9,000 mortar bombs, 3,000 Katyusha rockets,
3,000 gun shells, 20,000 grenades and over a half million rounds of
small arms ammunition.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, An Italian company
that helped build a communications satellite for Iran said there are
no plans to launch it, denying an announcement made in Tehran this
week.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Mexico reporter
Maria Esther Aguilar, who wrote about organized crime, disappeared
in western Michoacan state.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 11, Forbes Magazine
named drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a fugitive reputed to be
hiding in the mountains of northern Mexico, to its list of the 67
"World's Most Powerful People." Business groups in the Mexican
border city of Ciudad Juarez said they are calling for UN
peacekeepers to quell the drug-related violence that has given their
city one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Pakistan a
roadside bomb killed nine security officers close to the Afghan
border. Some 12 hours earlier, dozens of militants armed with
automatic weapons and rocket launchers attacked a security outpost
in the same Mohmand region, killing two soldiers and wounding three
others. The army responded by shelling militant positions there,
killing 10 suspected fighters.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Somalia gunmen
in Bossaso killed High Court Judge Mohamed Abdi Aware, a top judge
who had sentenced many pirates and human traffickers to long jail
terms. 3 men were arrested the next day over the killing. Puntland
legislator Ibrahim Ilmi Warsame was also shot dead as he sat in a
restaurant with friends.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Sudan 11 people
were killed in fighting in southern Jonglei state in clashes between
the Dinka and Shilluk ethnic groups.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, In Tanzania a
landslide followed a night of heavy rains and killed 11 children and
9 adults near Mt. Kilimanjaro.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 11, Venezuelan
authorities destroyed more than 30,000 illegal firearms as part of
an effort to combat soaring crime. The government stopped releasing
complete annual murder figures in 2005, but in 2008 the Justice
Ministry said homicides averaged 152 a week, or roughly 7,900 for 12
months.
(AP, 11/11/09)
2009 Nov 12, US prosecutors
filed a civil complaint in federal court against the Alavi
Foundation, seeking the forfeiture of more than $500 million in
assets. The Muslim nonprofit organization, suspected to have Iranian
links, held assets including bank accounts; Islamic centers
consisting of schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California
and Houston; more than 100 acres in Virginia; and a 36-story
Manhattan office tower.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 12, The IMF issued new
rules for financial assets that will be optional from this year and
mandatory from 2013.
(Econ, 11/14/09, p.88)
2009 Nov 12, The Atlantic
seaboard was drenched in rain from Tropical Storm Ida. 3 deaths were
reported in Virginia and one in North Carolina.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 12, Afghanistan
exported 12 tons of apples to India and touted the shipment as a key
step in exploring much-needed international markets for its
agricultural products.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Bolivia
authorities said that evaporation blamed on global warming has
reduced Lake Titicaca, one of the world's highest navigable lakes,
to its lowest level since 1949.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, British Airways
PLC and Spanish airline Iberia SA confirmed they are holding
separate board meetings about a long-awaited merger, responding to
feverish speculation that has sent the companies' shares soaring.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Honduras
assailants fired an anti-tank grenade toward the building housing
ballots for the upcoming Nov 29 Honduran presidential elections,
which are taking place under the shadow of a four-month crisis
caused by a coup. The grenade overshot its target.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 12, Italy's top
security official said that authorities have smashed an
international terror cell with the arrest in Italy and elsewhere in
Europe of 17 Algerians who were raising money to finance terrorism.
(AP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, In Norway thieves
stole a valuable artwork by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer in
downtown Oslo. One or more thieves stole "Historien" (History) from
Nyborgs Kunst.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 12, A Norwegian
freelance journalist kidnapped on Nov 5 in eastern Afghanistan was
released along with his Afghan interpreter. Paal Refsdal was in
Afghanistan filming a documentary for the Norwegian production
company Novemberfilm.
(AP, 11/12/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 12, In Pakistan stiff
Taliban resistance killed at least 17 government soldiers in the
military's deadliest day since launching its offensive in South
Waziristan. At least 15 soldiers were killed in clashes, while a
roadside bomb killed two soldiers in Sararogha area further east.
Gunmen shot dead Abu Al-Hasan Jaffry, a Pakistani spokesman for the
Iranian consulate, at point blank range as he set off for work in
Peshawar. The army said that 22 militants were killed in South
Waziristan, which would bring to 524 the number reported dead since
the fight began.
(AFP, 11/12/09)
2009 Nov 12, Peruvian media
reported that air force officer Victor Ariza (45) was arrested last
month for allegedly spying for Chile. Peruvian President Alan Garcia
soon accused Chile of assaulting Peru's sovereignty, throwing his
weight behind allegations that Chile paid a Peruvian military
officer to spy. Chilean Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez denied
the accusation.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 12, Russia’s Pres.
Medvedev called on his country to shed its dependence on exports of
raw materials and to adopt a more pragmatic foreign policy aimed at
attracting investment and promoting growth.
(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A5)
2009 Nov 12, In Rwanda a
passenger plane with a recent history of technical problems crashed
into an airport VIP lounge Kigali, killing one passenger. The
CRJ-100 aircraft was leased from Kenya's Jetlink.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, President Barack
Obama met with Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama on his first major trip to
Asia. He emphasized cooperation and opened with a warning to North
Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the US and its
Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons
programs. Obama and Hatoyama agreed to joint efforts to realize a
nuclear weapons-free world.
(AP, 11/13/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 13, In Berkeley, Ca.,
Zoelina Williams (23) was found beaten and fatally shot at Aquatic
Park. Her son Jashon (17 months) was missing. Curtis Martin III
(38), a convicted killer, was arrested later the same day. On Nov 15
Jashon’s body was found in the waters of Berkeley Marina.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A12)(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 13, Ohio became the
first US state to adopt a procedure for lethal injections that uses
just one drug, thiopental sodium.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 13, The United States'
first marijuana cafe opened in Portland, Oregon, posing an early
test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical
use of the drug.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, NASA said a
"significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon
heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and boosting
hopes of a permanent lunar base.
(AFP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Former New Mexico
Gov. Bruce King (85) died. The folksy cattle rancher served more
time as governor than anyone else and became an institution in state
politics. King was a Democrat who served three terms that spanned
three decades. He was in office in 1971-74, 1979-82 and 1991-94.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Afghanistan
NATO-led troops mistakenly killed a female civilian during an
operation against militants in eastern Zabul province.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, British
adventurers Mick Dawson and Chris Martin completed a 189-day record
voyage, begun on May 8, rowing their 23-foot, Kevlar boat across the
Pacific from Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 13, Chechen leader
Ramzan Kadyrov said security forces had killed up to 20 Islamist
rebels in a helicopter attack near the capital Grozny.
(Reuters, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, China’s Civil
Affairs Ministry said unusually early snow storms in north-central
China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to
collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of
winter crops.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Dagestan, east
of Chechnya, a bomb blast at a village cemetery killed three
civilians, the widow, sister and daughter of a police officer who
was among the victims of nearly daily attacks on law enforcement
authorities in the province.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, The French
government said its navy has seized 3 boats of Somalia’s coast and
detained 12 suspected pirates, while seizing an arsenal including
assault rifles and rocket launchers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, In Ingushetia,
west of Chechnya, three suspected militants who opened fire at a
police checkpoint were shot and killed.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, India officials
said all elephants living in Indian zoos and circuses will be moved
to wildlife parks and game sanctuaries where the animals can graze
more freely.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Israeli troops
killed a Palestinian man along the Gaza Strip border, but the
circumstances of the incident were unclear.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Mexico a
7-year-old boy, three women and a university professor were among 15
people killed in 6 separate incidents in the border city of Ciudad
Juarez.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, Moroccan
authorities detained a Western Sahara activist close to the
Polisario Front rebels, Aminatou Haidar, in the disputed territory's
main city. Haidar, the winner of several human rights awards, was
arrested on her arrival in Laayoune from Spain's Canary Islands.
Immigration officials immediately sent her back to Spain’s Canary
Islands after confiscating her passport. She used her Spanish
residency permit to re-enter the country and began a hunger strike
in Laayoune at midnight on Nov 15.
(AFP, 11/13/09)(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Morocco
journalists Rachid Nini and Said Laajal were sentenced to 3
months and 2 months in prison for publishing "false information"
about a drug trafficking ring. Their newspaper report concerned the
dismantling on August 17 of a major drug smuggling ring, named
"Triha" after its alleged boss, who was part of a group of 15 drug
barons arrested in 2008 in a crackdown across Morocco. Both
journalists were released on Dec 5, 2009.
(AFP, 1/5/10)
2009 Nov 13, The Dutch
government announced to bring the polluter-pays principle into the
home garage. As of 2012 rather than an annual road tax for their
cars, drivers will pay a few cents for every kilometer on the road,
in a plan aimed at breaking chronic traffic jams and cutting carbon
emissions.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Pakistan an
early morning attack killed 10 people and devastated much of the
northwestern headquarters of Pakistan's spy agency in Peshawar city.
About an hour later, a second suicide car bomber attacked a police
station farther south, killing six people. The military reported the
loss of 12 soldiers over the last 24 hours, one of its largest
single-day losses since the campaign in South Waziristan began.
Attackers fired rockets at a group of tankers near the southwestern
city of Quetta that were delivering fuel to US and NATO troops. One
driver was killed and five tankers were torched.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Philippine Pres.
Gloria Macapagal signed a bill criminalizing all forms of torture
and prohibiting state authorities from suing secret detention
centers.
(SFC, 11/14/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 13, In Puerto Rico the
dismembered body of college student Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado (19)
was discovered along a road in the interior town of Cayey. Lopez was
widely known as a volunteer for organizations advocating HIV
prevention and gay rights. Suspect Juan Martinez Matos (26), was
soon arrested and allegedly confessed to killing Lopez and
mutilating his body. He was charged with first-degree murder and
weapons violations and jailed on $4 million bond.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Russia huge
explosions and fire ripped through a naval munitions facility in the
Ulyanovsk province for hours, killing two firefighters and prompting
the evacuation of thousands of civilians nearby. 11 civilians and
military personnel were unaccounted for.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, In Russia
prosecutors said police have arrested three homeless people
suspected of eating a 25-year-old man they had butchered and selling
other bits of the corpse to a local kebab house. Parts of a human
body had been found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian
city of Perm, 1,150 km (720 miles) east of Moscow.
(Reuters, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 13, A Somali man was
arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops before a Daallo
Airlines flight took off from Mogadishu. It was scheduled to travel
from Mogadishu to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to
Djibouti and Dubai. The man was carrying powdered chemicals, liquid
and a syringe that could have caused an explosion. The case bore
chilling similarities to a later Dec 25 terrorist plot to blow up a
Detroit-bound airliner.
(AP, 12/30/09)
2009 Nov 13, South Africa’s
President Jacob Zuma said police do not have a "license to kill," a
day after his deputy police minister urged officers to "shoot the
bastards" in fighting criminals.
(AFP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Turkey's
government announced new measures aimed at reconciling with minority
Kurds and ending a 25-year-old insurgency, but there was no mention
of the sweeping amnesty sought by Kurdish rebels.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 13, Uganda’s army
clashed with tribesmen who were stealing cattle in the volatile
northeastern region. Two soldiers were wounded and 15 cows were
killed in two clashes on Nov. 13 and Nov. 17. The army killed 34
tribesmen in the clashes.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 13, A UN official said
an agreement has been reached for sweeping anti-corruption reviews
on how countries account for their public assets. The pact came
after talks in Qatar's capital, Doha, between the United Nations,
World Bank and watchdog groups.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 14, Pres. Obama spoke
in Tokyo and then flew to Singapore for a 21-nation summit of
Asia-Pacific leaders. In his Tokyo speech Pres. Obama declared the
United States a "nation of the Pacific and reached out warmly to
China, applauding Beijing's robust strides as a burgeoning economic
giant.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In North Carolina
the Fayetteville Police Department said Antoinette Nicole Davis, the
mother of Shaniya Davis (5), faced a child abuse charge involving
prostitution as well as filing a false police report. The child
hadn't been seen since Nov 10, when surveillance footage showed
Mario Andrette McNeill carrying Shaniya into a hotel room. He was
arrested and charged with kidnapping on Nov 13. The body of Shaniya
Davis was found on Nov 16 in woods 30 miles from Fayetteville. She
had been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated on Nov 10, the day her
mother reported her missing.
(AP, 11/15/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A26)(SFC,
11/21/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 14, In Riverside
County, Ca., Maysam Barbar and daughter Tamara (6) were found dead
in their Perris home. Suspect Michael Barbar, the husband and
stepfather, was arrested the next day in Deming, NM.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, In Lassen County,
Ca., a medical Aerospatiale AS350 helicopter crashed near the Nevada
state line killing all three crew members. They were returning to
Susanville after dropping off a patient in Reno.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A12)
2009 Nov 14, In Afghanistan an
armed woman died during a clash with insurgents in Shindand district
of western Herat province. The district governor, said three
civilian members of one family were killed and three children
wounded. Four Taliban militants were also said to have been killed
in the clash.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Three would-be
migrants drowned, one was rescued and 10 were missing off the
Algerian coast after their boats sank on their way to Europe.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, It was reported
that Chinese officials are being told to dump their mistresses,
avoid hostess bars, and shun extravagances as part of the Communist
party's efforts to clamp down on the corruption that is threatening
its rule and sullying its reputation.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Colombia’s
government 4 soldiers from Venezuela's National Guard captured in
Colombian territory will be repatriated in a bid to ease tensions
between the South American neighbors. The Colombian navy intercepted
the men Nov 13 in El Aceitico along the border.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Ethiopian ONLF
rebels fighting for independence for a region with potentially
significant oil and gas reserves said they had captured seven towns
near the border with neighboring Somalia.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In western India a
speeding train derailed, killing at least nine people and injuring
more than 80 in Jaipur, Rajasthan state.
(AP, 11/14/09)(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, Indian troops shot
dead five suspected Islamic militants as they tried to enter Indian
Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed state.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In Iran local
newspapers reported that the government has formed a special unit to
monitor Web sites and fight Internet crimes, in a clear attack on an
opposition that relies almost exclusively on online means to
broadcast its message.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, A Jordanian
citizen died after being beaten by police, the second time this
week, casting a rare spotlight on the nation's US-trained security
forces, that may also have worked as proxy jailers for the CIA.
Fakhri Kreishan (47) died two days after slipping into a coma caused
by a severe beating to the head due to a clash between police and
residents in the southern city of Maan. Sadem al-Saud (20) died Nov
7, three weeks after he was put into a coma by a beating
administered during an interrogation in an Amman police station.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Nigeria's
president held "frank and fruitful" talks with former oil rebel
leaders in an effort to end the conflict in the Niger Delta region.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 14, Tomaz Humar (40),
a veteran Slovenian climber, was found dead on Langtang Lirung in
the Nepalese Himalayas days after he was injured and stranded on the
23,710-foot (7,227m) mountain.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber blew up his explosives-filled car at a police
checkpoint in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing
himself and at least 12 people. In the northwestern Swat valley,
troops killed 13 insurgents in two separate gunfights.
(AFP, 11/14/09)(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 14, In Moscow Magnus
Carlsen (18) of Norway became the new No. 1 chess player in the
world with a tournament victory over Peter Leko of Hungary.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 14, In South Africa a
civilian pilot was killed when his fighter jet crashed shortly
before he was to participate in an air show near Bredasdorp, about
200 km west of Cape Town.
(Reuters, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, In South Africa
Kavisha Seevnarain (26) was carjacked and then forced at gunpoint to
go to ATMs to take out money. She was then thrown off a 200-foot
tall bridge south of Durban and survived with seven broken ribs and
a fractured pelvis.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 14, In South Korea at
least ten people, including eight Japanese tourists, were killed and
six others injured in a blaze at an indoor shooting range in Busan.
(AFP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 14, Sweden held a
solemn ceremony at Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities for
the return of 23 skulls taken from the native Hawaiian community.
Five of the skulls will be returned by the museum. They were brought
to Sweden by a Swedish scientist in the 1880s after he took part in
a trip around the world. The other 17 skulls will be returned by
Stockholm's medical university Karolinska Institutet.
(AP, 11/14/09)
2009 Nov 15, The Dungeness crab
season opened of the California coast.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 15, In eastern
Afghanistan hundreds of French and Afghan troops pushed into a
hostile valley where militants launch quick attacks, then disappear
into hillside villages. Separately in eastern province of Paktika, a
joint NATO and Afghan force killed a group of militants while
pursuing a commander tied to the militant network run by Jalaluddin
Haqqani. A British soldier was shot and killed while on foot
patrol in Helmand province.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, British officials
said PM Gordon Brown will apologize to thousands of British children
who were shipped to new lives overseas, where many say they suffered
neglect and abuse. Thousands of poor British children were sent to
Australia, Canada and other former colonies under the Child Migrants
Program, which ended in the 1960s. Many ended up in institutions or
as farm laborers. The British government has estimated that a total
of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad between
1618 — when a group was sent to the Virginia Colony — and 1967, most
of them from the late 19th century onwards.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Dr. Brooke
Magnanti (34), who works for The Bristol Initiative for Research of
Child Health, revealed herself to be the woman behind the nom de
plume "Belle de Jour," which is the title of a 1967 French film
starring Catherine Deneuve. Magnanti kept a weblog of her antics in
2003-2004, which were turned into a best-selling book, "The Intimate
Adventures of a London Call Girl." Her memoirs were adapted into a
hit 16-episode television series "Secret Diary of a Call Girl,"
which starred Billie Piper and was screened in countries around the
world.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Colombia DAS
intelligence agency director Felipe Munoz said Ivan Danilo Alarcon,
wanted for rebellion and drug trafficking, was detained by
intelligence agents near a university in the city of Cali. Alarcon,
who posed as a human rights activist, cried out that he was being
kidnapped and 100 people surrounded and detained the agents for over
an hour, threatened them with death and took their weapons and
armored vests. They freed Alarcon from handcuffs, and he fled.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, An Egyptian
judicial source said 2 Egyptian Christians, Rami Atef Khella and
Raafat Khella, have been condemned to death for the murder of a
Muslim man who married one of their relatives after she converted to
Islam. Mariam Atef Khella and the couple's daughter Nur were wounded
at the time of the attack more than a year ago.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Egypt’s
information technology minister said Egypt will apply for the first
Internet domain written in Arabic. The announcement was made at a
conference grouping Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss
boosting online access in emerging nations.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, German Federal
Criminal Police Office confirmed a Spiegel Online report that it had
posted notices across Afghanistan warning that Jan Schneider (27), a
Kazakhstan-born ethnic German, may plan attacks on German military
or civilian institutions in Afghanistan. Authorities identified the
German convert to Islam as an al-Qaida associate.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, India's Essar
Group, and energy-to-steel conglomerate, said it has agreed to buy a
majority stake in Dhabi Group's telecommunication businesses in
African nations Uganda and Congo.
(Reuters, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In gunmen wearing
Iraqi army uniforms abducted and killed 13 men and boys in the
village of al-Saadan, a village west of Baghdad, in what some
described as revenge against Sunnis who helped fight al-Qaida. Many
of the victims were beheaded, while others were shot and mutilated.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 15, Italian police
captured convicted mobster Domenico Raccuglia, one of Sicily’s top
mafia fugitives, in an apartment near Trapani.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 15, Kosovo held its
first elections since independence from Serbia, with some minority
Serbs ignoring a call to boycott and casting ballots alongside
ethnic Albanians. The voting ended peacefully, with the prime
minister claiming his party won convincingly.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Amnesty Int’l.
issued the report, "I Can't Believe in Justice Anymore." It said at
least 46 people had been unlawfully killed by police in Mozambique
since 2006. The report offered five detailed case studies, including
that of dancer and choreographer Augusto Cuvilas, who had called
police to his home because he feared he was being robbed, only to
end up being killed by the officers from whom he had sought help.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Myanmar a ferry
carrying nearly 200 passengers sank after colliding with an oil
barge in the Ngawun River, killing at least 31 and leaving more than
a dozen missing.
(AP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 15, In northwestern
Pakistan militants killed anti-Taliban elder Malik Sher Zaman in the
Bajur tribal region. Several hours later, more than a dozen
militants opened fire on the house of an anti-Taliban mayor outside
the main northwestern city of Peshawar, but security guards repelled
the attack, killing three of the assailants. The attacks were seen
as part of an escalating campaign to weaken the country's resolve to
fight Islamic extremism.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Paraguay 1,200
people escaped a fire that destroyed a supermarket on the outskirts
of Asuncion, killing two people.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Serbian Orthodox
Church Patriarch Pavle, born as Gojko Stojcevic (1914), died. He had
called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan ethnic conflicts
of the 1990s but failed to openly condemn Serb nationalism.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Singapore
President Barack Obama said the United States and Russia would have
a replacement treaty on reducing nuclear arms ready for approval by
year's end, an announcement designed as an upbeat ending to a summit
with Asia-Pacific leaders. Obama also attended a second summit with
leaders of the 10 southeast Asian countries that make up the ASEAN
group. Obama then arrived in Shanghai, launching a three-day visit
to an important global US partner and his first travels ever in
China.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, In Thailand
thousands of demonstrators attended a protest by the royalist
"Yellow Shirt" movement against a visit to Cambodia by their
arch-foe, fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 16, US federal
prosecutors said the Kuwait logistics firm, Public Warehousing co.,
had inflated prices and defrauded the US government under its
multi-billion dollar contract to feed American troops. The contract
was set to expire in December 2010.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.D2)
2009 Nov 16, In Los Angeles the
new $898 million Metro Gold Line extension began regular service
from Union Station to Atlantic Boulevard.
(SFC, 11/16/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 16, General Motors Co.
says it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy
protection through Sept. 30, far better than it has reported in
previous quarters and a sign that the auto giant is starting to turn
around its business.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Michigan the
Pontiac Silverdome, built 3 decades ago for $56 million, sold at
auction for $583,000. Greek-born Toronto-area businessman Andreas
Apostolopoulos was the winning bidder.
(SFC, 11/25/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 16, NASA’s shuttle
Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral with 6 astronauts on a
mission to supply the international with spare parts and
experimental equipment.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A17)
2009 Nov 16, The Afghan
government said it had formed a major crime unit to tackle
corruption, following escalating Western pressure on President Hamid
Karzai to fight graft. Afghan insurgents fired a pair of rockets
into a crowded marketplace in Kapisa province as a French general
met local leaders nearby, killing 14 civilians.
(AFP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Argentina 2 men
were granted a marriage license in Buenos Aires, breaking ground in
a country and region where laws ban gay marriage.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, Australia’s PM
Kevin Rudd issued an historic apology to thousands of impoverished
British children shipped to Australia with the promise of a better
life. But his government ruled out paying compensation for the abuse
and neglect that many suffered.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In London,
England, Geeta Aulakh (28), a receptionist at a local Asian radio
station and mother of two young boys, was found by a passerby in
Greenford near Ealing. A week later Sher Singh (18) was court
charged with the mutilation and murder of the Asian mother of 2
young boys. Family members say Aulakh, who had recently separated
from her husband of 11 years and was filing for divorce, had been
threatened in the months leading up to her death.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Shanghai
President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China to stop censoring
Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that
helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear
a little criticism.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, The EU Commission
said over 45 countries who catch tuna have agreed to cut catches of
the threatened Atlantic bluefin tuna next year.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, French tire maker
Michelin announced plans to invest nearly 900 million dollars to
build a tire plant to supply India's fast-growing vehicle market.
(AFP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Kirkuk a parked
car bomb exploded in a market, killing two civilians and wounding 10
others. An American soldier died of injuries sustained in a vehicle
accident during a patrol. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
dropped in on US troops in Iraq, thanking them for the sacrifices
they and their families are making.
(AP, 11/16/09)(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 16, Some Israeli
troops refused to follow orders during the military's evacuation of
settlers at an unauthorized outpost and hoisted a sign opposing
settlement evacuations. Four soldiers were sent to a military prison
for up to a month, while two others were ordered confined to their
base for a month.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, A 3-day summit on
world hunger opened in Rome. Zimbabwe’s Pres. Mugabe used the UN
summit on world hunger to lash out at the West and defend land
reforms blamed for plunging his people into starvation. Some 60
heads of state and dozens of minister rejected a UN call to commit
$44 billion annually for agricultural development in poor countries.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/17/09, p.A8)
2009 Nov 16, In Mozambique a
trail opened for former Transport Minister Antonio Munguambe and
four former officials of a company that runs the country's airports.
They were accused of stealing nearly $2 million from the company. It
was the biggest corruption case to go to court in Mozambique since
independence in 1975.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, It was reported
that thousands of people, including children, are being secretly
recruited and trained inside Kenya to battle Islamic insurgents in
neighboring Somalia. Recruiters, about 2 months ago, started openly
operating in Kenyan towns and in nearby huts and tents of the
refugee camps.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In northwestern
Pakistan a pickup truck laden with explosives blew up outside a
police station, killing four people in an area that has become the
focal point for militant retaliation against an army offensive along
the nearby Afghan border.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, The Palestinians
asked the European Union to support their plan to ask the UN to
recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent.
(AP, 11/16/09)
2009 Nov 16, In Russia Ivan
Khutorskoi (26), an anti-hate crimes campaigner, was killed in the
entrance of his Moscow apartment building with a shot to the head.
The former punk rocker, known as the Bonebreaker, had provided
security for meetings of antifascists. He also was known for
organizing underground bare-knuckle boxing matches among them, and
taking part in violent attacks on ultranationalists.
(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 16, Russian lawyer
Sergei Magnitsky (37) died after being denied medical assistance for
pancreatitis while in pretrial detention at Moscow's Butyrskaya
jail. He was arrested in November 2008 on tax-evasion charges linked
to his work with William Browder, a British investor barred from
Russia in 2005, as an alleged security risk. On Nov 15, 2010,
authorities claimed that Magnitsky was suspected of stealing the
$230 million that he said Interior Ministry officers had defrauded
from the state. Magnitsky originally testified against Interior
Ministry officers Pavel Karpov and Artyom Kuznetsov, accusing them
of stealing the money before the same officers initiated proceedings
against him. On Nov 28, 2011, a private investigation, compiled by
Browder, a US-born investor, concluded that Magnitsky was severely
beaten and denied medical treatment in prison, and accused the
government of failing to prosecute those responsible.
(http://tinyurl.com/yc25jyq)(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.57)(AP, 11/15/10)(AP, 11/28/11)
2009 Nov 16, In southern Sudan
47 people were killed in ethnic clashes in the Lakes state region.
The violence followed an attack a day earlier in which five were
killed and a minister in the semi-autonomous south’s government was
wounded in Central Equatoria state. It was all a continuation of
traditional cattle raids, but with the use modern automatic weapons.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 16, A North
Korean-crewed, Kiribati-flag, UK-British Virgin Islands owned,
single-hulled chemical tanker named the MV Theresa VIII was hijacked
with 28 crew members in the south Somali Basin, 180 nautical miles
North West of the Seychelles. The ship was released on March 16,
2010, following a ransom payment.
(AP, 3/16/10)(http://tinyurl.com/yeaum3r)
2009 Nov 16, Thai police
arrested Samart Chokechoyma (36) and Kanokwan Wongsaroj (38) on
charges of smuggling African ivory into the country to supply shops
that sell jewelry and trinkets, including to customers in the US.
DNA tests showed that it was of African origin.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 16, A Yemeni security
official and the Japanese Embassy said armed tribesmen have
kidnapped a Japanese engineer working on the construction of a
school and demanded the government release one of their imprisoned
tribe members. Takeo Mashimo was released on Nov 23.
(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 17, California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger visited his native Austria.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Australian doctors
successfully separated joined-at-the-head Bangladeshi twins after
more than 24 hours of surgery, saying the girls were "in great
shape" but faced a difficult recovery.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, In Beijing
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a
determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear
disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first
full-blown summit with scant progress beyond goodwill. Obama also
raised the case of American geologist Xue Feng, who disappeared into
Chinese custody in 2007 under charges of stealing state secrets over
the purchase of a commercial database on the oil industry.
(AP, 11/17/09)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 17, The European Union
joined the US in discouraging Palestinian intentions to seek
international recognition of an independent state, urging instead a
return to stalled peace talks with Israel.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Two leading
Rwandan Hutu rebels were arrested in Germany on suspicion of crimes
against humanity and war crimes this year and in 2008 in DR Congo.
The pair, Ignace Murwanashyaka (46) and Straton Musoni (48) are the
leader and deputy leader respectively of the Democratic Liberation
Forces of Rwanda. The FDLR is estimated to have 5,000 to 6,000
fighters, many of whom took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda
before crossing into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Iran vowed to
continue enriching uranium despite a wrist slap by the UN nuclear
watchdog, as US President Barack Obama warned of "consequences" if
Tehran refused to come clean on its atomic program.
(AFP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Iran’s state
television reported that five defendants have been sentenced to
death in a mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting the
unrest that followed the disputed June presidential election. They
apparently included 3 death sentences announced last month.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Israel moved to
approve a plan to build 900 more housing units in a Jewish
neighborhood in the part of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians,
drawing harsh criticism from the United States.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Pakistan said that
troops waging a major ground and air offensive against the Taliban
have captured most towns once under rebel control in a key district
on the Afghan border. The military said overall, 550 militants and
70 soldiers have been killed since the army launched the offensive
on October 17. In southwestern Baluchistan province. A bomb
targeting a police chief's vehicle in Quetta killed one person and
injured six others. Three militants and one Pakistani soldier were
killed in fighting in the Bajur tribal region.
(AFP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/17/09)(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 17, Slovakia pledged
about 250 extra soldiers to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, the
first of what British PM Gordon Brown said would be a series of
international reinforcements.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 17, Somali pirates
freed 36 crew members from the Spanish trawler Alakrana after
holding them since Oct 2. A self-proclaimed pirate said the
hostage-takers were paid $3.3 million in ransom, while Spain's PM
Zapatero said the country did what it had to do.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, South Korea
announced its first greenhouse gas reduction target, pledging to cut
emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 4
percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, A judge in
Tanzania said the prosecution failed to prove its case against
Father Hormisdas Nsengimana (55). He was alleged to have been at the
center of a group of Hutu extremists that planned and carried out
targeted attacks in Nyanza in 1994. Nsengimana was head of College
Christ-Roi, a prestigious Catholic school in the southern Rwandan
town. Judge Eric Mose ordered his immediate release from the UN
detention facility in Arusha. He had been imprisoned for seven years
since his 2002 arrest in Cameroon.
(AP, 11/17/09)
2009 Nov 17, Ugandan forces
shot and killed Okello Okutti, a senior commander of the rebel
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), during a clash in Obo, near the
Central African Republic's eastern border with Sudan.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, The United States
attended a meeting of the International Criminal Court's management
board at The Hague for the first time in a sign it has stopped
shunning the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, US District Judge
Stanwood Duval ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to
properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in
Hurricane Katrina. The ruling gave more than 100,000 other
individuals, businesses and government entities a better shot at
claiming damages. The ruling was the "first time ever the Army Corps
has been held liable for damages for a major catastrophe that it
caused."
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, A San Francisco
federal judge reduced the 9-year sentence of Pavel Lazarenko (56), a
former prime minister of Ukraine (1996-1997), by 11 months. The
judge also imposed a $9 million fine and nearly $26 million in
forfeitures to the US government, including the value of his sold
Novato mansion. Lazarenko was sentenced in 2006 for money laundering
and other charges. He was said to have amassed a $250 million
fortune in extortions following Ukraine’s independence in 1992.
(SFC, 11/17/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 18, California’s
Legislative Analyst Office reported that the state will face a $20.7
billion deficit next year.
(SFC, 11/19/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 18, In NYC the 60th
annual Book Awards honored Gore Vidal with its lifetime achievement
award. David Eggers won the Literarian Award. Colum McCann won the
fiction prize for his novel “Let the Great world Spin.” T.J. Styles
won the nonfiction award for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of
Cornelius Vanderbilt.”
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.F8)
2009 Nov 18, In Texas Danielle
Simpson (30) was executed by lethal injection for the Jan, 2000,
abduction and slaying of Geraldine Davidson (84). Simpson became the
22nd prisoner executed in Texas this year.
(www.palestineherald.com/breakingnews/local_story_322195228.html)
2009 Nov 18, Artist Jean-Claude
Denat de Guillebon (b.1935), the Morocco-born wife of environmental
artist Christo, died in NYC. Her Bulgarian-born husband was born
that same day as she was. They had met in Paris in 1958.
(SFC, 11/21/09, p.C3)
2009 Nov 18, Hillary Rodham
Clinton, on her first trip to Afghanistan as US secretary of state,
said that President Hamid Karzai's inauguration provides a new
chance for him to strengthen government accountability and take
tangible steps to improve the lives of Afghan citizens.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Argentina's
Congress, valuing truth over the right to privacy, authorized the
forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to
political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago, even when they
don't want to know their birth parents.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 18, Australian PM
Kevin Rudd voiced "concerns" about the Church of Scientology after a
senator detailed explosive allegations including torture,
imprisonment and coerced abortions.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, China's health
minister said his country is vaccinating 1.5 million people a day
against swine flu, part of a mammoth effort to reach nearly 7
percent of inhabitants of the world's most populous country by
year's end.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Egyptian fans were
attacked after Algeria won (1-0) a make-or-break World Cup
qualifying game in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and offices of
Egyptian companies in Algeria were ransacked after a matchup in
Cairo over the weekend.
(AP, 11/19/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.52)
2009 Nov 18, In France a 2-day
Congress of the International Association of Francophone Mayors
opened in Paris. The mayors jeered a speech by PM Francois Fillon
and denounced an effort to emasculate local power.
(Econ, 11/21/09,
p.54)(http://www.azi.md/en/story/7016)
2009 Nov 18, Germany said it
will extend its mission in Afghanistan for another year, despite the
growing unpopularity of the war at home.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Guyana unveiled a
simple, white stone plaque with little fanfare at the jungle
clearing where more than 900 members of the cult led by the American
preacher Jim Jones died in a night of mass murder and suicide on
Nov. 18, 1978.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Iran's foreign
minister said his country would not export its enriched uranium for
further processing, brushing aside the latest UN plan aimed at
preventing Tehran from potentially building nuclear weapons.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Italy the head
of a UN food agency expressed regret that an anti-hunger summit
failed to result in precise promises of funding, and critics said
the meeting had only thrown crumbs to the world's 1 billion people
without enough to eat.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Islamic
authorities in Malaysia charged a popular Muslim scholar with
delivering an illegal lecture in what critics considered an attempt
by conservative clerics to silence a leading moderate preacher. Asri
Zainul Abidin (38) has cultivated strong support among young people
in the Muslim-majority country for criticizing what he called
overzealous efforts by Islamic officials to clamp down on immoral
behavior.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Mozambique
testimony in the highest-level corruption trial in the country’s
history implicated ruling party Frelimo as a beneficiary of
embezzled funds. Former Mozambican airports company finance director
Antenor Pereira, a defendant in the trial, testified that Frelimo
had received some of the $1.7 million allegedly stolen from the
company.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, The Gaza-based
Waad charity, headed by the interior minister of the militant Hamas
group, offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who
abducts an Israeli soldier.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 18, Qatar hosted what
it billed as the ceremonial launch of Darfur peace talks, but
neither Sudanese government nor rebel representatives took part.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Somali pirates
attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months,
though private guards on board the US-flagged ship repelled the
attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, South African
police fired rubber bullets to disperse a mob who attacked shacks
belonging to hundreds of migrants following several days of tension.
Up to 2,700 Zimbabwean asylum seekers have set up a temporary
"safety camp" in a rural South African town following attacks on
their shacks in a dispute over jobs.
(Reuters, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, South Korean auto
giant Hyundai said it would roll out another new small car in India
as it jostles with rivals for a larger slice of the fast-growing
Indian market.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, Swedish museum
officials returned the remains of five indigenous Maori people to
New Zealand as part of a broader move in Europe to repatriate
remains taken from burial grounds.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 18, In Uganda a new 12
million dollar family planning drive was launched in Kampala
highlighting how Obama administration funding has revamped a
contraception drive in Africa and developing states. Uganda,
Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Kenya will share in the
12-million dollar funding, but international organizations still
have to persuade certain African governments that it is in their
interest to curb population growth.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Nov 19, In Las Vegas Manny
Pacquiao of the Philippines demolished Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto to
become the only man in history to win seven titles in as many weight
classes.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, A US congressional
advisory panel said that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing
American secrets to use in building Beijing's military and economic
strength.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, US air travelers
scrambled to revise their travel plans after an FAA computer glitch
caused widespread cancellations and delays for the second time in 15
months.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, California
Attorney General Jerry Brown issued an opinion that the salaries of
legislators and other elected officials can be cut in the middle of
their terms. The decision was expected to save the state $2.8
million next year. UC regents passed a 32% tuition increase despite
protests by angry students.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.C1)(SFC, 11/20/09, p.C2)
2009 Nov 19, In Silicon Valley,
California, the Tech Awards, a humanitarian program recognizing
technological solutions aimed at worldwide challenges, honored 5
winners for their work in the environment, economic development,
education, equality and health.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 19, Google unveiled
its new Chrome operating system for an always-connected netbook.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 19, US bank J.P.
Morgan Chase & Co. said it has bought full control of J.P.
Morgan Cazenove in a 1 billion pound ($1.67 billion) deal with its
joint venture partner, the venerable London financial house Cazenove
Group Ltd.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Tim Lincecum (25)
of the San Francisco giants won the Cy Young Award, baseball’s
highest honor for pitching, for a 2nd consecutive season. He
apologized for his Oct 30 arrest for marijuana possession. He had
already agreed to a plea deal and a $250 fine for the 3.3 grams of
marijuana found during a stop for speeding just north of the Oregon
state line.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 19, Texas executed
Robert Lee Thompson (34), for his role in a fatal store holdup 13
years earlier. Triggerman Sammy Butler had gunned store clerk
Mansoor Bhai Rahim but received a life sentence. Thompson was the 23
inmate executed in Texas this year.
(SFC, 11/20/09, p.A7)
2009 Nov 19, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai pledged in his inauguration speech that Afghanistan
will prosecute corrupt officials and control its own security within
five years. A suicide bomber targeting an Afghan security forces
convoy in Uruzgan province killed 10 civilians and wounded another
13. Two US service members were killed in an explosion in Zabul
province.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Herman Van Rompuy,
Belgium's Prime Minister and former economist, was named the
European Union's first permanent President. Baroness Catherine
Ashton, Britain's European Commissioner, was appointed as the EU’s
Foreign Minister-designate, with the unwieldy title of High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Bolivian police
busted five cocaine labs and arrested two people in a remote Indian
village after a confrontation in which an officer was shot.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 19, The European
Commission signed a 677 million euro (one billion dollar) deal in
Brussels to help Nigeria tackle challenges in its restive
oil-producing region, promoting peace.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, An Ethiopian court
convicted 26 people who were accused of taking part in an alleged
coup plot earlier this year and acquitted five others.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In France South
Korean model Daul Kim (20), a fashion week regular in New York,
Milan and Paris, was been found hanged in her Paris apartment.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, In India thousands
of sugar cane farmers staged a massive demonstration in New Delhi,
halting traffic as they demanded higher prices for the crop.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In eastern India a
passenger train derailed after Maoist rebels blew up a key track in
Jharkhand state, killing two people and injuring at least 30 others.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Israeli aircraft
struck a weapons-manufacturing facility and two smuggling tunnels in
the southern Gaza Strip, in response to recent rocket attacks on
Israel.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Four whaling ships
left Japan for a five-month hunt in the Southern Ocean, using a
loophole in an international moratorium that allows their killing
for lethal "research."
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, From Lebanon the
militant Hezbollah group said that Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has been
re-elected as the group's leader for a sixth term.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a courthouse in
Peshawar, killing 19 people. The bomb explosion occurred hours after
missiles fired from a suspected US drone killed three suspected
militants in Shana Khuwara village in North Waziristan. 5 Pakistani
troops and six militants were killed in a gunbattle at a security
outpost to the north in the Bajur tribal region.
(AP, 11/19/09)(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Peruvian police
said a gang in the Peruvian jungle has been killing people and
draining fat from the corpses to sell on the black market for use in
cosmetics, although medical experts say they doubt a major market
for fat exists.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, Russia's
Constitutional Court effectively outlawed the death penalty, saying
a moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force until the
nation fully bans executions.
(AP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, In Russia a gunman
killed Rev. Daniil Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest, in his Moscow
church and seriously wounded the reverend's assistant.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 19, In South Korea
President Barack Obama said a US envoy would visit North Korea early
next month, as he joined South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in
urging the communist state back to nuclear talks.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 19, Venezuelan
authorities captured Magally Moreno (39), a former Colombian
official, wanted for collaborating with outlawed right-wing
paramilitary fighters. Moreno was wanted by Colombian authorities on
charges of aggravated homicide and Interpol had called for her
arrest.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 19, Zimbabwe’s
government said security forces have started withdrawing from the
country's eastern diamond fields to meet Kimberley Process reforms
over human rights abuses.
(AFP, 11/19/09)
2009 Nov 20, A US judge blocked
a Tennessee law that allowed people to bring handguns into
restaurants and bars.
(Reuters, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 20, The Manhattan
Declaration was signed by about 150 prominent Christian clergy,
ministry leaders and scholars and was released at a press conference
in Washington, DC. A number of Christian leaders, known for their
public witness on behalf of justice, human rights, and the common
good, had come together in shaping the declaration. It was born out
of an urgent concern about growing efforts to marginalize the
Christian voice in the public square, to redefine marriage, and to
move away from the biblical view of the sanctity of life. In
December 2010 apple removed it as a iPhone App.
(www.manhattandeclaration.org/the-movement/movement.aspx)(SFC,
12/7/10, p.A18)
2009 Nov 20, Oprah Winfrey
announced that she will end her eponymous show in Sep 2011, 26 after
it first aired nationwide.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.78)
2009 Nov 20, Lester Shubin
(84), former US Justice Dept. researcher, died at his home in
Virginia. In the 1970s he began developing Kevlar, a new DuPont
fabric invented in 1965, into body armor for police and soldiers.
DuPont had intended Kevlar to replace steel belting on tires and
began marketing it in 1971. By the end of 2009 bulletproof vests had
saved the lives of over 3,000 law enforcement officers.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.C4)(SFC, 4/7/03, p.E2)
2009 Nov 20, Charis Wilson
(96), American model and writer, died. She had modeled for
photographer Edward Weston for 11 years beginning in 1934.
(Econ, 12/12/09, p.96)
2009 Nov 20, In Afghanistan a
suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck Farah city, the capital of the
southwestern province of Farah, killing 16 people near the
governor's home. A roadside bomb targeted a controversial warlord,
who escaped unscathed but killed five of his bodyguards northwest of
Kabul. A similar device, of the type favored by Taliban insurgents,
killed three civilians in the east.
(AFP, 11/20/09)(SFC, 11/21/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 20, In Australia 2
executives at Securency, a banknote-making firm part-owned by
Australia's central bank, were suspended over a police probe into
alleged bribery and kickbacks. According to a May 23 report by The
Age newspaper, Securency officials had paid more than 12 million
dollars in kickbacks for a printing contract to a Vietnamese
businessman with links to the communist state's government.
Officials were also accused of paying bribes worth millions of
dollars into tax haven bank accounts of a politically-connected
Nigerian businessman to win a 2007 contract.
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 20, Australian
firefighters battled dozens of bush blazes as record-breaking hot
weather sparked "catastrophic" warnings in two states, just months
after the country's worst ever wildfire disaster.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Canada’s TD Bank
was hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit calling it the "financial
epicenter" of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by disgraced Florida
lawyer Scott Rothstein.
(Reuters, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Cuba Reinaldo
Escobar, the husband of acclaimed dissident Cuban blogger, Yoani
Sanchez, was punched and shouted down by a pro-government mob after
he challenged the presumed state agents who earlier roughed up his
wife, to a street corner debate.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, Egyptian police
shot and killed a Bedouin in north Sinai after the arrest of fellow
tribesmen prompted clashes. Protesters injured dozens of police near
the Algerian embassy in Cairo, fanning the flames of a diplomatic
spat that erupted after Algeria won a football World Cup qualifier.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In northern
England military helicopters winched dozens of people to safety and
emergency workers in inflatable boats rescued scores more as floods
swamped the picturesque Lake District. One police officer was
missing and feared dead after a bridge was swept away.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In France a man
with an automatic rifle opened fire on a car near a Paris train
station, killing one man and wounding two others.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Germany filed
terrorism charges against a Turkish-German dual citizen allegedly
linked to a member of a cell that plotted to attack US targets. The
24-year-old, identified only as Kadir T. in line with German privacy
laws, was charged with supporting a foreign terrorist organization
and violating export laws.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Nov 20, German prosecutors
said that around 200 football matches in nine European countries
including at least three Champions League games are implicated in a
new match-fixing scandal.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Guatemalan
officials announced the resumption of international adoptions after
a nearly two-year suspension prompted by the discovery that some
babies were being sold.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In India 7 people
were arrested in Mumbai after activists from a hardline Hindu
regional political party ransacked a television station's offices
and beat up staff.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In the Northern
Mariana Islands a gunman went on a rampage on the Pacific resort
island of Saipan, killing 4 people and wounding six others before
fatally shooting himself. Li Zhongren (42), a Chinese citizen, was
believed to have been employed at the shooting range and left notes
indicating personal financial problems and frustrations.
(AP, 11/20/09)(SFC, 11/23/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 20, In Mexico Jesus
Zambada Reyes, identified as the nephew of drug lord Ismael "El
Mayo" Zambada, was found dead in an apparent suicide in Guerrero
state. A body found in Guerrero state was identified as Omar
Guerrero Solis, a rebel leader who had accused the state governor of
drug ties. Solis told local media in May that he believed Gov.
Zeferino Torreblanca had ties to the Sinaloa cartel. He accused the
army of not detaining Sinaloa gunmen, while cracking down on members
of the rival Beltran Leyva cartel. US citizen Lizbeth Marin was shot
in Matamoros and later died of the wound. A Mexican army soldier was
said to have accidentally fired a round that hit Marin.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 20, In northwestern
Pakistan a suspected US missile strike killed at least eight
militants, the second attack this week in an area believed to hold
many insurgents who fled from an army offensive elsewhere in the
Afghan border region. Four Pakistani soldiers, including a captain,
were killed when militants ambushed their convoy in the North
Waziristan area of Shawal. Two police officers were killed and four
others wounded when a remote-controlled bomb destroyed their vehicle
in Peshawar.
(AP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, Somali pirates
hijacked a Panamanian cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden between the
Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, Swiss authorities
said that they had ordered some 350 million dollars of assets to be
seized from the son of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha for
graft.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Geneva, Sw.,
CERN scientists restarted the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) following more than a year of repairs. They were surprised
that they could so quickly get beams of protons whizzing near the
speed of light during the restart.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 20, In Tanzania
members of the East Africa Community (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda) signed a common market agreement in Arusha,
headquarters of the EAC.
(http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/21/content_12513712.htm)
2009 Nov 20, Hugo Chavez has
defended the alleged terrorist mastermind Carlos the Jackal, aka
Ilich Sanchez Ramirez, saying the Venezuelan imprisoned in France
was an important "revolutionary fighter" who supported the cause of
the Palestinians. Ramirez gained international notoriety during the
1970s and 80s as the alleged mastermind of a series of bombings,
killings and hostage dramas. He is serving a life sentence in France
for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged
informant.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Th US Senate voted
60-39 to open debate on the health care bill. The vote was hailed a
victory for Pres. Obama, but final passage of the legislation was
far from certain.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Afghanistan a
rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Kabul, wounding two
people. NATO took command of the training of the Afghan army and
police to consolidate efforts on building an effective security
force, a vital precondition for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
(AP, 11/21/09)(Reuters, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Australia issued
"catastrophic" alerts after record-breaking temperatures and wild
lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country.
(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, The University of
East Anglia, in eastern England, said computer hackers have broken
into a server at a well-respected climate change research center and
posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online, stoking
debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for
man-made climate change. More than a decade of correspondence
between leading British and US scientists was included in about
1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the
security breach last week.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In northern China
a gas explosion tore through the state-run Xinxing coal mine in
Heilongjiang province, killing at least 107 people with 2 missing.
(AP, 11/21/09)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 21, Indonesian
authorities picked up Abdul Basir Latip, a co-founder of the Al
Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremist group, at Jakarta airport for
using a false passport.
(AFP, 12/16/09)
2009 Nov 21, Italian police
arrested a Pakistani father and son accused of helping fund and
providing logistical support for last year's terrorist attacks in
Mumbai, India. The day before the attacks began on Nov. 26 they
allegedly sent money using a stolen identity to a US company to
activate Internet phone accounts used by the attackers and their
handlers.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Northern
Ireland a car containing a 400-pound (180kg) device, crashed through
barriers outside the Belfast headquarters of the province's policing
supervision board and partially exploded. Elsewhere, police
exchanged shots with paramilitaries in a border village and 3 people
were arrested.
{Northern Ireland}
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Pakistani
Kashmir 3 suspected Taliban militants blew themselves up as police
chased them.
(Reuters, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Hamas announced
that it has reached an agreement with other militant groups in Gaza
to stop firing rockets at southern Israeli towns to prevent
retaliatory attacks.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Russia’s PM
Vladimir Putin pledged to widen the country’s anti-crisis aid
package with a car scrappage scheme and mortgage support to jolt the
economy out of the worst recession in 15 years. President Dmitry
Medvedev sharply criticized officials in the ruling Kremlin-backed
party for manipulating recent regional votes, saying it must learn
to win fairly.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Russian spaceship
designer Konstantin Feoktistov (83), the only non-Communist space
traveler in the history of the Soviet space program, died. In 1964,
he traveled aboard the Voskhod spaceship as part of the first group
space flight in history.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 21, Saudi health
officials announced the first deaths from swine flu of this year's
annual pilgrimage to Mecca, as four pilgrims succumbed to the
disease soon after arriving in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, Sri Lanka said it
would grant free movement to the remaining war-displaced civilians
held in internment camps, meeting a key demand of the international
community. The government reiterated it would complete the
resettlement of civilians by the end of January.
(AFP, 11/21/09)
2009 Nov 21, In Sudan Silva
Kashif (16), a girl from south Sudan, was arrested convicted and
lashed 50 times after a Khartoum judge ruled her knee-length skirt
was indecent. Her mother, Jenty Doro, later said she planned to sue
the police who made the arrest and the judge who imposed the
sentence, as her daughter was underage and a Christian.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 22, Country crossover
star Taylor Swift overshadowed the late Michael Jackson at the
American Music Awards, winning five prizes including artist of the
year.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, It was reported
that US and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of
anti-Taliban militias under a plan called the Community Defense
Initiative. In southern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed five
Afghan border security guards traveling on a heavily used road in
Kandahar province near the border with Pakistan. NATO forces
detained several militants with links to the Taliban. South of
Kabul, an Afghan-international security force detained several
militants near the village of Kashimiri Balat while pursuing an
alleged Taliban member involved in the weapons trade. Also south of
Kabul, a joint force detained several suspected militants, including
a Taliban commander linked with several local Taliban leaders. In
Ghazni province a joint force killed a militant, detained another
and recovered pistols and grenades while pursing a Taliban
commander. 3 Afghan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in
southern Helmand province. A bomb attack and a firefight killed 3 US
troops.
(SSFC, 11/22/09, p.A8)(AP, 11/22/09)(AP,
11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, An Algerian court
acquitted 2 men who had been held for seven years in the US military
prison in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of belonging to an extremist
group. Faghoul Abdelli and Mohamed Terari were arrested in Pakistan
after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US and transferred to
Guantanamo Bay where they were held without trial before being sent
home to Algeria last year.
(Reuters, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, In the northeast
of Central African Republic 2 French aid workers in Birao were
kidnapped by a gang of armed men, close to the border with Sudan.
Olivier Denis and Olivier Frappe wee freed on March 14, 2010, in
Darfur.
(AFP, 11/24/09)(AFP, 3/14/10)
2009 Nov 22, India’s PM
Manmohan Singh arrived in Washington for talks with Pres. Obama.
(SFC, 11/23/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 22, In northeast India
suspected separatists set off two explosions killing five people and
wounding at least 52 more near Gauhati, the Assam state capital. Two
people died later in a hospital.
(AFP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Nearly 250 people
were pulled from the sea after the Dumai Express went down in heavy
rain and huge swells off Karimun island in the north of the
Indonesian archipelago. At least 29 people were killed and 20 were
missing.
(AFP, 11/22/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Iran began
large-scale air defense war games aimed at protecting the country's
nuclear facilities against any possible attack. Mohammad Ali Abtahi,
a former vice president, (1997-2005) was released on a $700,000
bail. His lawyer said he had been sentenced to six years in prison
in the mass trial of opposition figures accused of fomenting
post-election unrest.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Iranian Pres.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Gambia for a 24-hour working visit aimed at
fostering relations between the Islamic republic and the West
African nation.
(AFP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Former Iranian
Interior Minister Ali Kordan (51), who was dismissed after being
accused of faking a law degree from the University of Oxford, died.
Iran's parliament dismissed Kordan in 2008 after questions arose
over his credentials from Oxford. The university denied it awarded
him an honorary doctorate of law.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, An American
soldier was killed in action in Iraq.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Israeli aircraft
attacked two suspected weapons-making factories and a smuggling
tunnel in the Gaza Strip in what the military said was retaliation
for Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel.
(AP, 11/22/09)
2009 Nov 22, Pakistan's army
fought Islamist militants for control of a northwestern district.
Fighting in Shahukhel in Hangu district close to the Afghan border
killed 12 militants.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 22, Romania held
elections. President Traian Basescu received 32.7% of the vote,
while Mircea Geoana won 30.1%, in first official results based on
around 85% of the vote counted in an election tainted by accusations
of fraud.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, The US Consumer
Product Safety Commission recalled of 2.1 million cribs following
links to 4 infant suffocations. The drop-side cribs were made by
Stork Craft Manufacturing of Canada.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 23, Jacques Monsieur
(56), a Belgian arms dealer pleaded guilty, in an Alabama courtroom
to conspiracy to illegally export F-5 fighter jet engines and parts
from the US to Iran. Monsieur, along with Dara Fotouhi, an Iranian
national living in France, was charged in a six-count indictment
with conspiracy, money laundering and smuggling.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 23, Ohio police seized
about 35 pipe bombs, an assortment of firearms, hundreds of rounds
of ammunition at the Cuyahoga Falls apartment of Mark Campano (56),
a former doctor, following two loud explosions. Citing a history of
drug dependency, the Medical Board of Ohio had removed Campano's
license in 2006.
(AP, 11/26/09)(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A5)
2009 Nov 23, The US signed an
agreement giving 38.7 million dollars to 27 Afghan provinces that
eliminated or significantly reduced opium production in the world's
biggest supplier country. Afghanistan’s deputy attorney general said
2 Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated under suspicion of
embezzlement. A suicide bomber, targeting a police convoy, killed
two civilian men and three children in northern Kunduz province.
Five others were wounded in the attack. A bomb attack killed a US
soldier in eastern Afghanistan.
(AFP, 11/23/09)(Reuters, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, A Chinese court
sentenced Web site manager Huang Qi, a veteran dissident, to three
years in prison after he criticized the government's response to the
May, 2008, earthquake that killed about 90,000 people.
(AP, 11/23/09)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.45)
2009 Nov 23, India's army
tested a nuclear-capable Agni missile after sunset for the first
time to demonstrate it could be fired whenever required.
(Reuters, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iran's central
bank chief said that the country has gained five billion dollars by
replacing the US dollar with the euro in its currency basket. Iran’s
conservative Jomhuri Eslami reported that the moral police have
arrested a dozen couples for engaging in illicit sexual acts,
including swapping of partners.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iran ordered a ban
on the Hamshahri daily, the country's largest-circulation newspaper,
for publishing a photo of a Baha'i temple. Iran's Shiite cleric-led
regime views the Baha'i religion as heretical and has banned it
since the 1979 revolution. The ban was lifted after one day.
(AP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 23, Iraqi lawmakers
voted to change the system for distributing parliamentary seats. But
lawmakers from the Sunni minority walked out before the vote, saying
they will lose seats under the change.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, UOP LLC, a
Honeywell company, announced today that its renewable jet fuel
process technology was used to convert second-generation, renewable
feedstocks to green jet fuel for a biofuel demonstration flight by
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
(http://tinyurl.com/yb877n3)(SFC, 11/24/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 23, Pakistan's army
fought Islamist militants for control of a northwestern district,
killing 18 of them. It was the second day of fighting in Shahukhel
in Hangu district close to the Afghan border.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, In the southern
Philippines dozens of gunmen hijacked a convoy carrying journalists,
and family and supporters of a candidate for provincial governor,
killing 57 people in Maguindanao province. In 2010 Senior Police
Officer Rainier Ebus testified he saw former Mayor Andal Ampatuan
Jr., the scion of the clan that was in control of southern
Maguindanao province, shoot about 40 of the 57 victims after
stopping their vehicles. Maguindanao is part of the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was created as part of a 1996 peace
agreement with a large Muslim rebel group. The body of journalist
Reynaldo Momay (61), a photographer for a small-town newspaper, was
missing. He would be the 58th victim.
(AP, 11/23/09)(AP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/10/10)(AP,
11/22/10)
2009 Nov 23, In Russia 8
military personnel were killed when a truckload of ammunition
exploded as they cleaned up after the huge Nov 13 conflagration at a
munitions depot in Ulyanovsk.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, Shiite rebels in
northern Yemen accused Saudi forces of launching a major
cross-border ground and air attack, a day after an alleged failed
incursion.
(AFP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 23, In Geneva the
world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by
circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time
and causing the first particle collisions in the $10 billion machine
after more than a year of repairs.
(AP, 11/23/09)
2009 Nov 24, President Barack
Obama showered praise on India and PM Manmohan Singh in an elaborate
welcoming ceremony, declaring it was only fitting the Indian leader
should be the first state visitor of his administration. Virginia
couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, met Pres. Obama in the receiving
line of the state dinner for PM Singh. A "deeply concerned and
embarrassed" Secret Service later acknowledged that its officers
never checked whether the two were on the guest list before letting
them onto the White House grounds.
(AP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Alaska the
Catholic diocese of Fairbanks and representatives of almost 300
alleged victims of sex abuse by clergy agreed on a settlement of
almost $10 million.
(SFC, 11/25/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 24, Afghanistan’s
attorney general's office said 15 current and former Afghan
ministers are under investigation over allegations of corruption
that have plagued the government of President Hamid Karzai.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Lloyds launched
the country's largest-ever rights issue to raise 13.5 billion pounds
from existing shareholders.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave a welcoming bear hug
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and urged Western nations to
drop threats of punishment over the Iranian nuclear program and
instead negotiate a fair solution.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Rio de Janeiro's
posh beach neighborhoods lost power for hours in sweltering summer
weather, prompting restaurants to toss out spoiled food and business
owners to send employees home.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, China executed
Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping for their roles in a contaminated milk
powder scandal last year that led to the deaths of at least six
infants and sickened up to 300,000.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, A report was
leaked on the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the CongoDRC, better
known as MONUC. The report alleged collusion between peacekeepers
and Congo’s army to help various rebel groups in exchange for cash
and access to mineral wealth.
(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.54)(http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2009/11/leak-un-expert-report.html)
2009 Nov 24, Iran released on
$500,000 bail prominent reformist Mohammad Atrianfar who has been
convicted in connection with street protests after June's disputed
presidential election.
(AFP, 11/24/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Iran said it was
ready to exchange its low-enriched uranium with a higher enriched
material, but only on its own soil, to guarantee the West follows
through with promises to give the fuel.
(AFP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Israel carried out
three airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, targeting a
weapons-manufacturing facility and weapons smuggling tunnels. They
came in response to two rockets Palestinian militants fired at
southern Israel from Gaza a day earlier. Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers
reported that two of the group's militants were killed when a rocket
they were handling blew up prematurely.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Italy
prostitute Patrizia D'Addario’s memoir, "Gradisca, Presidente," (At
Your Pleasure, Premier), went on sale. In it she claimed that she
had slept with Premier Silvio Berlusconi on the understanding he
would help her set up a countryside inn but that she got "nothing"
in return.
(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, In Nepal the 2-day
Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, was attended by many
Hindus from India as well as Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes,
pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons were expected to be slaughtered
this year.
(AP, 11/20/09)(AP, 11/24/09)
2009 Nov 24, Pakistan’s
government offered peacemaking proposals to separatists in
Baluchistan, including an end to military operations and a payment
of $1.4 billion to the province in increased gas royalties.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.29)
2009 Nov 24, In Thailand Samak
Sundaravej (74), a firebrand right-wing politician and TV cooking
show host who served a brief and tumultuous term last year as prime
minister, died of cancer.
(AP, 11/24/09)(Econ, 12/5/09, p.96)
2009 Nov 25, US federal
prosecutors said a young woman from Mexico was smuggled over the
border and forced to work as a prostitute for years in Brooklyn, and
the remains of an infant were found in concrete at the home where
she was held prisoner. NYPD officials discovered the bin a day
earlier, with the remains of an infant inside. Domingo Salazar (33)
and his wife, Norma Mendez (32), appeared in US District Court in
Brooklyn on sex trafficking charges and were being held without
bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A new report said
Wal-Mart Stores Inc's demand for rock-bottom prices from suppliers
in China means some of these companies are forcing their employees
to work in sweatshop-like conditions.
(Reuters, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Toyota said it
would fix accelerator pedals on 4.26 million vehicles to prevent
them from becoming stuck and leading to unintentional acceleration.
(AFP, 11/25/09)(Econ, 12/12/09, p.76)
2009 Nov 25, Mullah Omar, the
Taliban's reclusive leader, issued a Muslim holiday message calling
on Afghans to break off relations with the government, which he
described as a 'stooge' administration.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Officials said
flooding from heavy rains has killed 12 people in Argentina, Brazil
and Uruguay and forced more than 20,000 to flee their homes. Most of
the dead were in southern Brazil, including eight in Rio Grande do
Sul.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Australian
Northern Territory officials said some 6,000 feral camels are
running wild in the remote outback community of Docker River in
search of water, smashing infrastructure and invading the airstrip.
(AFP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, British PM Gordon
Brown says 10 NATO nations are ready to offer about 5,000 more
troops for the war in Afghanistan.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, The Canadian
dollar rose to a one-week high against the US dollar after the
Russian central bank said it was preparing to invest some of its
foreign exchange reserves in the Canadian currency.
(Reuters, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, A court in
northern China sentenced five leaders of an unauthorized Protestant
church to prison terms of up to 7 years on charges including illegal
assembly. Their arrests stemmed from a Sept. 13 raid by police and
hired security guards on sunrise services held in a dormitory
building by the 50,000-member Linfen Fushan Church in Linfen,
northern Shanxi province.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, A Chinese health
official said eight cases of swine flu mutation have been detected
amid longstanding concerns among scientists that the virus could
change into a more dangerous form.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In western
Democratic Republic of Congo at least 73 people were killed and
others missing after a logging boat sank in Lake Mai Ndombe in
Bandundu province.
(Reuters, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 25, Dubai, whose
extravagant building projects have been largely put on hold since
the start of the global financial crisis, said it would ask
creditors at its flagship firms Dubai World and property developer
Nakheel to delay repayment on billions of dollars of debt until May
30, 2010 at the earliest.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.83)
2009 Nov 25, Iranian Pres.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Caracas for a meeting with President Hugo
Chavez, as the two outspoken anti-US leaders try to boost ties.
(AFP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, An Iranian cleric
said religious authorities have started taking control of schools,
part of a wider ideological drive by hard-liners to wage what
authorities call a "soft war" against Western influence.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Iran stopped the
yacht, “Kingdom of Bahrain,” owned by Sail Bahrain as it sailed from
Bahrain to the Gulf city of Dubai. It had been due to join the
360-mile (580km) Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which was to
begin Nov. 26. Five British sailors were detained. The 5 sailors
were released on Dec 2.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Iraq a double
bombing killed 4 people and injured 25 civilians in Karbala ahead of
the 4-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. 6 others were killed in an
overnight raid by insurgents on a home north of Baghdad.
(AP, 11/25/09)(SFC, 11/26/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, Israeli PM
Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a 10-month freeze on West Bank
settlement construction in what he says is an attempt to jumpstart
Mideast peace talks. The freeze would not include east Jerusalem,
the area of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians for a future
capital.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Mali gunmen
kidnapped Pierre Camatte, a French national, in the remote east. The
kidnapping was attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Camatte was released on Feb 23, 2010.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)(SFC, 2/24/10,
p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, Pakistan charged
seven men in last year's Mumbai terror attacks, its first
indictments in a case watched closely by India and the United States
to see if Islamabad makes good on promises to punish those
responsible.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, In Saudi Arabia
rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into
Mecca, snarling Islam's annual hajj as some 2.5 million Muslims
headed for the holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top
of intense concerns about the spread of swine flu. The torrential
rains killed at least 106 people. Most of the deaths occurred in
Jiddah, where streets were swamped with water, some houses collapsed
and mudslides took place, and in areas around the main highway to
Mecca.
(AP, 11/25/09)(AFP, 11/25/09)(AP, 11/26/09)(AP,
11/28/09)
2009 Nov 25, Voters in St.
Vincent and the Grenadines rejected a referendum on whether or not
to break their ties with Britain's monarchy, even as Queen Elizabeth
II is made a rare visit to the region.
(AP, 11/25/09)(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 25, Yves Rossy, a
Swiss adventurer, landed in the Atlantic after trying to soar from
Morocco to Spain on jet-powered wings.
(SFC, 11/27/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 25, A United Nations
report confirmed that one of Africa's most brutal rebel movements
relies on a vast, international network of supporters in at least 25
countries including in the US and Europe who facilitate arms
trafficking, money transfers and day-to-day operational support. The
findings are a scathing indictment of how little has been done by
the international community to cut off logistical support to the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic
Hutu militia which has wreaked havoc in Congo.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 25, Zimbabwe's state
media said the ailing public health system will receive a 180
million US dollar boost to fight HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria from the Global Fund.
(AP, 11/25/09)
2009 Nov 26, The Univ. of
Michigan announced that football player Charles Woodson is donating
$2 million to its new Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Jupiter,
Florida, 3 women and a child, Makayla Sitton, in bed were shot to
death during a family Thanksgiving gathering. Police officers were
looking for Paul Michael Merhige (35) of Miami. Merhige, a cousin of
the 6-year-old victim, was arrested on Jan 2, 2010, at a motel in
the Florida Keys.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 1/3/10)
2009 Nov 26, In Vienna Mohamed
ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), said that his probe of allegations that Iran tried to make
nuclear arms is at "a dead end" because Tehran is not cooperating
and warned that confidence in Tehran had shrunk in the wake of its
belated revelation of a previously secret nuclear facility.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Central
African Republic the rebel Convention of Patriots for Justice and
Peace (CPJP) claimed they had taken control of the key north central
town of Ndele after an attack. The rebels said three of their men
had been killed, four were wounded, and that about a dozen soldiers
were killed. The CPJP is led by Charles Massi, who was a prime
minister under Ange-Felix Patasse, the president toppled in a
bloodless coup by Bozize in 2003.
(AFP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, China announced
plans to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured
against its economic output, a commitment from the world's largest
polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate
conference in Copenhagen next month.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In China 172
miners were underground when an explosion occurred at the Zhenxing
coal mine. 10 miners were killed in the gas explosion.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Congo four
UN peacekeepers were wounded in northern Congo after a UN helicopter
was attacked by armed men.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, European banks
were hit by concern about potential exposure to debt problems in
Dubai, while companies where Middle Eastern investors own big stakes
also came under pressure.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Lyon, France,
thieves used a sledgehammer to smash through the reinforced glass on
a downtown Cartier storefront. They then swiped jewelry and watches
from display cases. In Dec police recovered nearly euro800,000
($1,181,900) in jewels stolen in the holdup. Officers came across
the stash by accident while searching the apartment of a suspect in
another jewelry theft. The suspect was still at large.
(AP, 12/9/09)
2009 Nov 26, Georgia’s foreign
minister said his country is very worried about the possible sale of
French warships to Russia and intends to press the issue of security
guarantees in France.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In southern
Hungary a student (23) opened fire at a university in the city of
Pecs, killing one student and wounding three other people.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Indonesia
police broke up a protest by the environmental group Greenpeace
against deforestation on the island of Sumatra, arresting 12 foreign
and six Indonesian demonstrators.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, A human rights
group said Iran has brought new espionage charges against Kian
Tajbakhsh (47), an Iranian-American scholar, who was already
convicted of spying and sentenced to 15 years in prison in the
country's crackdown following June's disputed presidential election.
Prominent political activist Behzad Nabavi (67) was released on
$800,000 bail. Shapoor Kazemi, opposition leader Mousavi's
brother-in-law, was freed on $50,000 bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, Shirin Ebadi, 2003
Nobel Peace Prize, said that Iranian authorities took her medal
about three weeks ago from a safe-deposit box, claiming she owed
taxes on the $1.3 million she was awarded. Ebadi said that such
prizes are exempt from tax under Iranian law. In Norway, where the
peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the
gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old
prize.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Ireland an
official report said the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin
obsessively covered up widespread sexual abuse of children by
priests until the mid-1990s in a misuse of the Church's central role
in Irish society.
(Reuters, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Ampatua, surrendered to presidential
adviser Jesus Dureza in the provincial capital. He had allegedly led
dozens of police and pro-government militiamen in the Nov 23
massacre of an election convoy.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, Polish defense
ministry spokesman Robert Rochowicz said the US and Poland have
agreed terms for stationing US troops in Poland so that the
deployment of US Patriot missiles can start next year.
(AFP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, The Swiss Justice
Ministry said Roman Polanski will be placed under house arrest at
his Alpine chalet as soon as possible, announcing it would not
appeal a court's decision to release the 76-year-old director on
bail.
(AP, 11/26/09)
2009 Nov 26, In Tunisia Taoufik
Ben Brik (49), a journalist known for his critical stance toward
Tunisia's government, was sentenced to six months in prison for what
his lawyer called a trumped-up assault charge. Brik was released on
april 27, 2010.
(AP, 11/26/09)(AP, 4/27/10)
2009 Nov 27, Tiger Woods ran
his SUV into a fire hydrant and a tree outside his Florida home.
This took place just days after the National Enquirer claimed he had
an affair with Rachel Uchitel, the 33-year-old golf champ. A report
soon followed in Us Weekly magazine of a cocktail waitress claiming
to have had a 31-month affair with Woods.
(AP, 12/4/09)(http://tinyurl.com/yjqs6nr)
2009 Nov 27, Space shuttle
Atlantis and its 7 astronauts returned to Earth with a smooth
touchdown at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to end an "amazing" flight that
resupplied the International Space Station.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, Bess. L. Hawes
(b.1921), co-writer of the political whimsical hit “Charlie on the
MTA’’ (1948), died in Portland, Ore. The song became a big hit for
the Kingston Trio in 1959.
(http://tinyurl.com/ygtrqh8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_Lomax_Hawes)
2009 Nov 27, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai called on the Taliban and other extremist groups to lay
down their weapons and participate in rebuilding the battered
country, as part of reconciliation efforts he has said will be his
main objective during his second term. Turyalai Wesa, the governor
of Kandahar province survived an assassination attempt when a bomb
targeting his convoy exploded as he headed for prayers. An Afghan
Red Crescent official in Takhar province was shot to death in an
apparent attempt to settle a long-standing dispute. Police detained
a father, his son and a nephew.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, A NATO official
said alliance nations may increase their fighting force in
Afghanistan by up to 6,000 soldiers in response to President Barack
Obama's expected call for 30,000 additional US and allied service
members.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In southern
Bangladesh the MV Coco-4, a triple-deck ferry packed with hundreds
of travelers heading home for an Islamic festival, capsized on the
Tetulia River as passengers disembarked, leaving at least 77 dead
and dozens missing.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AFP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 27, The army in the
Central African Republic retook control of the key north central
town of Ndele from rebels.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, China and Japan
agreed to conduct their first joint military training exercise, in
the latest sign of warming ties between the Asian neighbors, long
marked by mutual suspicion and spats over a range of issues.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In China Justin
Franchi Solondz, an American man wanted in the US on terrorism
charges, was sentenced in Dali city, Yunnan province, for making
illegal drugs. The FBI office in Seattle listed Solondz among its
"most wanted." Charges in 2006 related to his alleged role in 2001
with the Earth Liberation Front. Solondz was accused of having a
role in the destruction of a horticulture center at the University
of Washington, as well as the destruction of several buildings in
Oregon.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In northeastern
China flooding trapped 16 coal miners in Jilin province.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Congo DRC four
people died when a jail cell wall fell on them during an attempted
prison escape in Kinshasa.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Guatemala a mob
of some 400 residents in Solola burned to death two men and a woman
suspected of killing a local bus driver.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, Haiti's UN
peacekeeping mission urged local officials to provide a
justification for banning 17 political groups from participating in
next year's legislative elections.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, The board of the
UN nuclear watchdog censured Iran, with 25 nations backing a
resolution that demands Tehran immediately freeze construction of
its newly revealed nuclear facility and heed Security Council
resolutions calling on it to stop uranium enrichment.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Iraq a US
soldier died of noncombat-related injuries.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, The Israel air
force attacked a group of Palestinian militants in northern Gaza as
they were about to fire rockets at Israel. Palestinian medics said 4
militants were wounded. The Israeli military said one member of the
squad was killed.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 27, Bison returned to
Mexico for the first time since the 1800s, with Mexican authorities
releasing 23 donated US animals in northern Chihuahua state. The
donated bison came from the Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Namibia’s Pres.
Hifikepunye Pohamba, who is seeking a 2nd 5-year term, was among the
first to vote as polls opened in a 2-day election. The elections
expected to return the long-ruling SWAPO to power despite a tough
challenge from a new breakaway party. The population of the desert
nation, half the size of Alaska, numbered about 2.2 million people.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba won re-election, with more than six
times as many votes as his nearest rival.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AFP, 11/27/09)(AP, 12/5/09)(Econ,
11/28/09, p.56)
2009 Nov 27, In Pakistan 15
Taliban fighters were killed in operations over the past 24 hours in
South Waziristan. Shahfur Khan, a key anti-Taliban tribal leader,
was assassinated in a roadside bombing in the northwest. Elsewhere,
authorities found the bullet-riddled body of Ameer Saiyed, another
tribal elder, who was seized from his home a day earlier in an
attack that also left his son dead. A gunman opened fire on the
house in Rawalpindi of Kamran Shafi, a newspaper columnist critical
of Pakistan's army and spy agencies. Shafi later alleged that the
attack was carried out by elements linked to the country's powerful
security establishment. Shafi recounted the attack and a death
threat he received the following day in his weekly column in the
respected Dawn newspaper. He and his family were not injured in the
incident.
(AP, 11/27/09)(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 27, Poland's Pres.
Kaczynski's Web site said he has approved legislation that allows
for people to be fined or even imprisoned for possessing or buying
communist symbols.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Russia a
homemade bomb planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St.
Petersburg route, caused a derailment of the 14-car Nevsky Express.
26 people were killed and dozens more injured. Chechen militants
later claimed responsibility and vowed further "acts of sabotage" in
a letter posted on a rebel website.
(AP, 11/28/09)(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Rwanda Janvier
Murenzi, a former presidential financial director, was fined 1.8
million dollars and jailed for four years for illegal enrichment as
Kigali cracks down on corruption.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, In Saudi Arabia
vast crowds of pilgrims cast stones at walls representing the devil
on the third day of the annual hajj as Muslims around the world
began celebrating Eid al-Adha, the most important holiday of the
Islamic calendar.
(AP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Saudi Arabia said
nine of its soldiers fighting Yemeni rebels on the border were
missing and Saudi King Abdullah vowed to defend the country.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 27, The 53 members of
the Commonwealth gathered in Trinidad for a summit.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.67)
2009 Nov 27, Venezuela’s
President Chavez said he plans to open an embassy in Palestinian
territories and upgrade its ties to ambassadorial level, to support
Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.
(Reuters, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 27, Zimbabwe and South
Africa signed a bilateral investment agreement which would protect
investments made by nationals of both countries in each other's
territory.
(AFP, 11/27/09)
2009 Nov 28, In Sonoma County,
Ca., John Maloney (45), his wife Susan (42), and 2 children Aiden
(8) and Gracie (5) were killed when Steven Culbertson (19) of
Lakeport broadsided their car on Highway 37. The family was on its
way home from a vacation in Hawaii. News of the tragedy prompted
Michael Vincent Gutierrez (26) of Redwood City and girlfriend Amber
Marie True (29) to break into the Maloney’s empty house. They
ransacked the home and drove off in the Maloney’s 2006 Nissan 350Z.
Gutierrez and True were arrested Dec 1 just hours after a neighbor
noticed the Maloney’s garage door open.
(SFC, 12/3/09, p.A1)
2009 Nov 28, Afghanistan
announced a pay rise of nearly 40 percent for police and military
recruits, as Western countries aim to increase the size and quality
of Afghan security forces so their own troops can go home. Police
said a dozen prisoners escaped jail through a tunnel they dug from
their cell to the outside in western Farah province. 26 militants
were killed in a gun battle with border security guards along the
eastern Pakistan frontier.
(Reuters, 11/28/09)(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 28, In Canada
locomotive engineers of the country’s largest railroad walked off
the job after talks broke down. Canadian National Railway said it
was using management and non-union staff to provide "the best
possible service under the circumstances."
(Reuters, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China Wu
Xiaoqing (57) hanged himself in his cell using the drawstring from
his underwear five months following his arrest for corruption. The
ex-judge was charged with taking bribes from gangsters.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 28, In China a
Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed in flames during takeoff
from Shanghai's main airport, killing 3 American crew members and
injuring 4 others on board.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, French Transport
Minister Dominique Bussereau said Russia has given the green light
for Air France's A380 superjumbo to overfly Siberia, opening the way
for a projected Paris-Tokyo service. The accord was approved by PM
Vladimir Putin at the end of a two-day visit to France which saw a
number of business deals concluded. Putin's trip also secured a deal
for French investment in a key pipeline project and the struggling
Avtovaz car maker, as well as a promise that France will consider
selling Moscow a huge amphibious assault ship.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, Japan launched its
fifth spy satellite into orbit in a bid to boost its ability to
independently gather intelligence.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, Pakistan’s
President Asif Ali Zardari gave up control of the country's nuclear
arsenal in a bid to fend off mounting pressures threatening to
weaken his rule further and complicate the war on the Taliban.
Zardari announced that control of the National Command Authority,
which analysts and lawyers confirmed was responsible for nuclear
weapons, had shifted to PM Yousuf Raza Gilani.
(AFP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, The government of
Peru apologized to its Afro-Peruvian population for the first time
for centuries of abuse, exclusion and discrimination.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 28, A South Korean
fishing vessel burned and sank in the port of Uruguay's capital.
Navy officials said all 38 crew members are safe.
(AP, 11/28/09)
2009 Nov 29, San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom led a 50-person Bay Area delegation to Bangalore,
India, on a 3-day trip to sign business deals as part of the San
Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative.
(SSFC, 11/29/09, p.D1)
2009 Nov 29, Andrew Conley (17)
of Rising Sun, Indiana, strangled his 10-year-old brother as the two
wrestled. The teen told investigators he had had fantasies about
killing someone since he was in eighth grade, including cutting
somebody's throat, and felt "just like" the serial killer Dexter on
the Showtime television series of the same name.
(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Washington
state Maurice Clemmons (37) shot and killed four police officers
from the Tacoma suburb of Lakewood as they worked on their laptop
computers in a coffee house at the beginning of their shifts in
Parkland. On Dec 1 Clemmons was shot and killed by a lone patrolman
investigating a stolen car. Four people were arrested for allegedly
helping the suspect elude authorities during a massive two-day
manhunt. Clemmons had been paroled in 2000 by Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee. 7 people were soon arrested for helping Clemmons elude
capture.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/1/09)(SFC, 12/1/09,
p.A10)(SFC, 12/5/09, p.A6)
2009 Nov 29, In southwest
Afghanistan a rogue police officer opened fire at a checkpoint in
Nimroz province, killing six police officers and injuring two before
being killed. In northern Jowzjan province two gunmen on a motorbike
shot and killed the head of logistics for the provincial
intelligence service. In southern Helmand province, Afghan and
international forces killed two militants responsible for planting
roadside bombs.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, An Algiers court
sentenced Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian Guantanamo inmate who refuses
to be sent home, to 20 years in prison for belonging to an "overseas
terrorist group." Belbacha, who has been held at the US prison camp
since February 2002 following his arrest in Pakistan, has been
deemed by US authorities as no longer an "enemy combatant" and
cleared for release to Algeria. Belbacha said that he fears torture
at home and refuses to be repatriated. Instead, he has requested
political asylum in the United States.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Argentina
Solange Magnano (38), a mother of twins who won the Miss Argentina
crown in 1994, died of a pulmonary embolism after three days in
critical condition following a gluteoplasty in Buenos Aires.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, Equatorial Guinea
held elections. It was expected that results would extend the
30-year rule of Teodoro Obiang Nguema (67), a man accused of
draining his nation's oil wealth to fabulously enrich family and
cronies while his people suffered in slums. Obiang gave only six
weeks' notice for the election and coverage in the state-controlled
media was skewed. Nguema won power for another term with 95.37% of
votes cast. Opponents and international human rights groups
denounced the electoral process in Africa's No. 3 oil producer as
fraudulent.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/4/09)
2009 Nov 29, France and Rwanda
agreed to restore diplomatic ties three years after they were cut
off amid tensions over a French judicial investigation.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Honduras held
elections. Porfirio Lobo and Elvin Santos, two prosperous
businessmen from the political old guard, were the front-runners.
Conservative rancher Porfirio Lobo conservative rancher gathered a
strong lead and his Santos conceded defeat.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 29, In India senior
government officials said workers at the Kaiga nuclear power plant
in southern Karnataka state were treated for poisoning after
drinking water was deliberately spiked with radiation.
(AFP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Iran's parliament
passed a law earmarking $20 million to support militant groups
opposing the West and to investigate alleged US and British plots
against the Islamic Republic. Iran’s Cabinet ordered an expansion of
the country’s nuclear program that included an additional 10 nuclear
plants.
(AP, 11/29/09)(SFC, 11/30/09, p.A4)
2009 Nov 29, In Iraq an
American soldier died of injuries unrelated to combat.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, In Mauritania 3
Spanish volunteers were kidnapped by gunmen. Spain's interior
minister said the next day that he suspected al-Qaida-linked
Islamists were behind the attack. On Dec 2 a Mauritanian official
said the 3 aid workers were being taken by their captors to
neighboring Mali. Aid worker Alicia Gamez (35) was released on March
10, 2010. Businessmen Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta remained
captive. Al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa said on March 12 that
it had released Gamez because she voluntarily converted to Islam.
Pascual and Vilalta were released in August 2010.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/2/09)(AP, 3/10/10)(AP,
3/12/10)(Reuters, 8/23/10)
2009 Nov 29, In Mexico weekend
violence left 17 people dead. 7 women were murdered, including one
(19) who was beheaded in the southern beach resort of Cancun. 4 of
the women were killed in Ciudad Juarez, where two were shot to
death, another beaten with a baseball bat and a fourth, a school
teacher, also was beaten to death. 2 women were found shot to death
in Mexicali. Jesus Alfredo Portillo (27), a university student and
rights activist, was killed in Ciudad Juarez. Her mother-in-law and
women's group founder Marisela Ortiz had recently complained of
death threats against her. Elsewhere, 8 men were found murdered in
northern Chihuahua state, 5 of them in Ciudad Juarez.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 29, Rwanda was
admitted to the Commonwealth as its 54th member during a summit in
Trinidad.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8384930.stm)
2009 Nov 29, Saudi officials
said 5 people died from swine flu during the hajj, a relatively
small number considering the event is the largest annual gathering
in the world and was seen as an ideal incubator for the virus.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Somali pirates
seized the Greece-flagged Maran Centaurus, a tanker carrying more
about $150 million of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the US, in the
waters off East Africa. The tanker was released on Jan 18 following
a $5.5 million ransom. A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs
over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn the supertanker
and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits
begged the anti-piracy force for help. Ransom after 50 days was said
to be between $5.5 and $7 million.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AP, 12/4/09)(AP, 1/18/10)(Econ,
2/5/11, p.70)
2009 Nov 29, Pirates attacked a
Spanish fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean, firing small arms and a
rocket-propelled grenade, but private security guards aboard the
ship shot back and repelled them.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Switzerland held a
nationwide referendum on a proposal by the right-wing Swiss People’s
Party to ban Muslim minarets. Over 57% of Swiss voters approved the
ban. The four minarets already attached to mosques in the country
are not affected by the initiative.
(SFC, 11/28/09, p.A4)(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, The United Arab
Emirates' central bank said it would offer additional liquidity to
banks, signaling a push by the federal government to reassure
investors worried about the country's banking sector and its
exposure to Dubai's crushing debt.
(AP, 11/29/09)
2009 Nov 29, Uruguay held
elections. Jose Mujica (74), a plain-talking socialist, won the
presidential run-off keeping the center-left coalition in power for
another 5 years. He once led an armed revolutionary movement but now
rejected the ideologies of the 1970s. Mujica won 53% of the vote, to
43% for Luis A. Lacalle, with 97% of the vote counted.
(AP, 11/29/09)(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, The US Dept. of
Agriculture designated the Big Island of Hawaii a primary natural
disaster area because of losses farmers suffered from volcanic
emissions this year.
(SFC, 12/1/09, p.A10)
2009 Nov 30, The United States
recognized the results of a controversial election in Honduras but
said the vote was only a partial step toward restoring democracy
after a June coup that ousted the elected president.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Algerian health
organization (AnisS) warned that thousands of its people are
unknowingly infected with the AIDS virus and called for more testing
and prevention efforts.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, An Argentine judge
issued an order blocking the continent's first gay marriage
scheduled for Dec 1. National Judge Marta Gomez Alsina ordered the
wedding blocked until the issue can be considered by the Supreme
Court.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Nov 30, The EU Council of
Ministers for Interior and Justice abolished visa requirements for
citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area#Current)
2009 Nov 30, Interpol and the
Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3
months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and
used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of
illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the
wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Iran's nuclear
chief said UN criticism pushed his country to retaliate by
announcing ambitious plans for more uranium enrichment. With
tensions rising over deadlocked negotiations, France said diplomacy
was not working and sanctions against Iran were needed.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Guantanamo
detainees Adel Ben Mabrouk (39) and Mohamed Ben Riadh Nasri (43)
arrived in Italy for trial on int’l. terrorism charges. The 2
Tunisian men were charged for allegedly recruiting fighters for
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 12/1/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 30, North Korea began
exchanging old notes following a 100 to 1 revaluation of its
currency. Many shops were reported closed with citizens angry and
panicked. The redenomination of the won led to a collapse of the
currency, a surge in the price of rice and wiped out much traders’
working capital.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A6)(Econ, 2/13/10, p.43)
2009 Nov 30, Pakistani security
forces targeted militants fleeing a major army offensive close to
the Afghan border, killing 10 of them.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, In Switzerland the
world's largest atom smasher broke the world record for proton
acceleration Monday, firing particle beams with 20 percent more
power than the American lab that previously held the record.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, Tajikistan
unveiled a Chinese-built 500-kilowatt transmission line that will
link the northern and central parts of the country. This would add
to the poor nation's debt to China but reduce reliance on
Uzbekistan, which planned to withdraw on Dec 1 from the Soviet-era
power grid that unites four Central Asian countries. This prompted
fears of electricity shortages that could make for a winter of
hardship in impoverished Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan, said
the move will cut it off from gas-rich Turkmenistan.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov 30, The United Nations
asked for $7.1 billion to pay for its humanitarian work around the
world next year, with Sudan and its troubled Darfur region most in
need and Afghanistan rising to second.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Nov, The Planetary Skin
Institute (PSI), set up by Cisco Systems and NASA to study the
extent and health of forests and other ecosystems, was registered as
an independent non-profit organization.
(Econ, 12/18/10,
p.153)(www.planetaryskin.org/institute/background)
2009 Nov, In Brazil the
secretary of Jose Robert Arruda, governor of the Federal District,
was filmed handing over bundles of cash to his boss’s various
allies.
(Econ, 2/27/10, p.43)
2009 Nov, In Russia police
officer Maj. Alexey Dymovsky posted three videos on YouTube in which
he said he was promised a promotion in return for jailing an
innocent person. He also accused his superiors of forcing officers
to fake reports on unsolved crimes. In December prosecutors in the
southern Krasnodar region filed fraud charges against Dymovsky,
saying that Dymovsky had embezzled about $800 while working as a
narcotics investigator.
(AP, 12/28/09)
2009 Nov, In Tonga Supreme
Court judge Robert Shuster sentenced 2 boys, who had escaped from
prison and stolen food, to 13 years in prison and six lashes from a
"cat-o-nine-tails" whip at a hearing that only just come to light in
February 2010. The 2 teenagers appealed the court ruling ordering
them to be whipped, with supporters calling the punishment inhumane
and a form of torture.
(AP, 2/18/10)
2009 Dec 1, President Barack
Obama shared his new US strategy for Afghanistan with President
Hamid Karzai, spending an hour discussing troops levels, security,
political and economic elements of his revised war plan. Obama
planned to send 30,000 more troops to be deployed over the next six
months, escalating the 8-year-old war. In his prime-time speech to
the nation, Obama laid out a rough timeframe, for when the main US
military mission will end. Obama proposed an 18-month timeline for
starting to bring troops home.
(AP, 12/1/09)(Reuters, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, California Governor
Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver inducted the latest nominees to the
California Hall of Fame. They included: Carol Burnett, Andy Grove,
Hiram Johnson, Rafer Johnson, Henry J. Kaiser, Joan Kroc, George
Lucas, John Madden, Harvey Milk, Fritz Scholder, Danielle Steel, Joe
Weider and General Chuck Yeager.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.C6)
2009 Dec 1, In Miami, Florida,
lawyer Scott Rothstein was arrested on federal racketeering and
fraud charges alleging he operated a $1 billion scheme involving
phony legal settlements. On Jan 27, 2010 Rothstein (47) pleaded
guilty to federal charges that he ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A9)(SFC, 1/28/10, p.A6)
2009 Dec 1, Voters in Atlanta,
Georgia, selected former state Sen. Kasim Reed as mayor by a margin
of 715 votes over City Councilwoman Mary Norwood. With 84,383 votes
cast, the margin was less than 1% and a recount was expected. A Dec
9 recount confirmed Reed as the winner by a margin of 714 votes.
(SSFC, 12/6/09, p.A14)(SFC, 12/10/09, p.A13)
2009 Dec 1, A Baltimore jury
convicted Mayor Sheila Dixon of one count of embezzlement for
stealing gift cards meant for poor residents. She was acquitted of
other charges.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A12)
2009 Dec 1, In NYC John
“Junior” Gotti was freed on $2 million bond after a jury failed to
reach a verdict over racketeering charges. This was the 4th hung
jury for Gotti in 5 years.
(SFC, 12/2/09, p.A9)
2009 Dec 1, In Vienna Japanese
diplomat Yukiya Amano took the helm of the UN atomic watchdog
(IAEA), pledging a steady hand to steer the agency through the storm
surrounding Iran's nuclear drive. Mohamed ElBaradei (67), the
outgoing Egyptian chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), handed over his leadership to Yukiya Amano.
(AP, 11/30/09)(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Ephraim Nkezabera
(57), a former Rwandan bank director, was sentenced to 30 years in
prison by a Belgian court which found him guilty of war crimes
including murder, attempted murder and rape during the 1994
genocide. Nkezabera was not present in court and did not attend the
trial, which started just over three weeks ago, because of ill
health. He was arrested in June 2004 by the Belgian authorities
while visiting a family member in Belgium.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, China’s quarantine
bureau said it has lifted bans on imports of pork products from the
United States, Canada and Mexico, but analysts said the move would
not likely lead to a surge of new imports.
(Reuters, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, The new EU Treaty
of Lisbon went into effect. It provided the EU with modern
institutions and optimized working methods to tackle both
efficiently and effectively today's challenges in today's world.
(AP,
1/1/10)(http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/index_en.htm)
2009 Dec 1, In Hong Kong a
rare, 5-carat pink diamond was auctioned off for a record $10.8
million in Hong Kong.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In India newspaper
executives and editors gathered from around the world heard calls to
seek more payment for their content on the Internet as they decried
their industry's sharply falling advertising revenues.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Indonesia banned
the film “Balibo,” an Australian-made film on the alleged murder of
six Australian-based journalists by Indonesian troops during the
1975 invasion of East Timor.
(AFP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, Israel sternly
warned the EU against recognizing east Jerusalem as the Palestinian
capital, saying such a move would damage Europe's credibility as a
Mideast mediator. Sweden, the current EU president, was floating an
initiative to recognize east Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Italian officials
said police have broken up a major mafia clan, issuing 83 arrest
warrants and seizing businesses, land, race horses and a
London-based online betting company. Local politicians and
businessmen in the southern city of Bari were among those implicated
as part of a 3-year operation, called "Domino," for collaborating
with the Parisi clan.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Kazakhstan
astronauts from Canada and Belgium and a Russian cosmonaut landed
safely, wrapping up a six-month stint on the International Space
Station.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Kosovo told the
UN's highest court that its independence is irreversible and warned
that any attempt to cancel it could set off a renewed conflict.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Libya sentenced two
Swiss businessmen to 16 months in prison and a fine, in a row
stemming from the arrest in Geneva last year of Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi's son.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Mexico City
gunmen burst in to a Starbucks coffee shop and killed a former
policeman who was a protected witness in a drug corruption case, the
second death of a high-profile witness in Mexico in less than two
weeks. Edgar Bayardo was gunned down in the upper middle-class Del
Valle neighborhood, and a man with him was severely wounded.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In Pakistan a
suicide bomber killed Shamsher Ali Khan, a provincial lawmaker, as
he received guests at his home in the northwest Swat valley. The
army said 10 suspected militants were arrested in two search
operations in the region in the past 24 hours.
(AFP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Peru's police chief
dismissed the head of his criminal investigations unit amid
suggestions that officers may have invented a story about a
murderous gang of human fat thieves, perhaps to distract from
allegations of police killings.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In the Philippines
Andal Ampatuan Jr., the heir of a powerful clan, was charged in
connection with the Nov 23 ambush in which 57 people, more than half
journalists, were slaughtered. Three witnesses, who escaped,
reported seeing him and some 100 gunmen stopping cars at the scene
of the massacre.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Pirates off Oman
attacked the oil tanker, Sikinos. Using flares and hoses, the crew
of the Greek oil tanker fought off the pirate attack in the Arabian
Sea.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, In South Africa
Pres. Zuma said on World AIDS Day that all HIV-positive babies will
be treated and testing expanded, a dramatic and eagerly awaited
shift in a country that has more people living with HIV than any
other.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Sri Lanka gave
permission to nearly 127,000 Tamil refugees to leave squalid and
overrun government camps where they have been detained since the
country's civil war ended six months ago.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, Turkey's government
approved a plan to open the country's first Kurdish-language
department at a university as part of its efforts to reconcile with
the Kurdish minority. Small scale violence continued for the third
day in a row as stone-throwing Kurdish militants clashed with police
across the nation in the wake of last week's anniversary of the 1978
founding of the PKK rebel group.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 1, UAR stock markets
plunged for a second day after the Dubai government said it is not
guaranteeing debt-ridden Dubai World, which unveiled a major
restructuring plan.
(AP, 12/1/09)
2009 Dec 2, Court documents
filed in Boston said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay $40
million to 87,500 Massachusetts employees who claimed the retailer
denied them rest and meals breaks, manipulated time cards and
refused to pay overtime.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Albania’s PM Sali
Berisha announced an agreement to accept former Guantanamo detainees
following talks with special envoy Daniel Fried.
(SFC, 12/3/09, p.A2)
2009 Dec 2, Australia's plans
for an emissions trading system to combat global warming were
scuttled in Parliament, handing a defeat to a government that had
hoped to set an example at international climate change talks next
week.
(AP, 12/2/09)
2009 Dec 2, Cambodian police
confiscated two tons of live snakes and tortoises and arrested two
men trying to smuggle the slithering cargo up a river from Cambodia
to Vietnam. Police arrested two Cambodians, aged 17 and 20, who said
they were hired to transport the cargo but did not know the
identities of their employers.
(AP, 12/3/09)
2009 Dec 2, Canadian PM Stephen
Harper arrived in Beijing for what Chinese experts are touting as a
fence-men