Timeline 2007 April-June
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2007 Apr 1, Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor (GOP), announced that he is running for president.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 1, Brooklyn's borough president launched the Coney Island amusement park's last season ahead of a major redevelopment that will raze much of the lovably seedy boardwalk area.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Morgan Pressel became the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history with a game well beyond her 18 years, closing with a 3-under-par 69 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, In Charlotte, North Carolina, 2 police officers shot during a struggle with a suspect outside an apartment complex died, and a suspect was charged with murder.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In southern Afghanistan the Taliban executed three men accused of spying for NATO and government forces. A NATO airstrike targeted a compound housing Taliban militants in Shahjoy district of Zabul province, killing seven suspected militants inside. NATO-led troops and police clashed with suspected Taliban militants in Kandahar's Zhari district, leaving six militants dead. In eastern Afghanistan flash floods caused by torrential rains killed at least 16 people and destroyed dozens of houses near the Hindu Kush mountain range.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AFP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Cambodia held local commune elections. The Cambodian People’s Party won control in 1,592 of 1,621 communes amid opposition claims of fraud.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.38)
2007 Apr 1, In Canada Nelly Furtado stole the show at the Junos, playing the roles of both host and big winner at the 2007 edition of the nation's top music awards.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, A knife-wielding Chinese tour guide injured 20 people in a stabbing-and-slashing spree at a southwestern resort following an argument over kickbacks on souvenir sales. Xu Mingchao (25) from the province of Heilongjiang, was arrested following the incident.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Danish researchers reported that they have isolated bacterial enzymes that effectively remove sugar molecules from red blood cells that provoke an immune reactions. This would allow conversion of the A, B, and AB blood types into Type O, the universal donor type that can be given to anyone.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 1, Hans Filbinger (93), a former governor of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state (1966-1978), died. He had resigned amid revelations about his past as a Nazi-era naval judge.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Laurie Baker (90), a British-born architect, died in India. He spent more than 60 years in India building homes that were ecologically sound and affordable for the poor.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Iran about 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. Britain examined options for new dialogue with Tehran over the seized crew of 15 sailors and marines, as a poll suggested most Britons back the government's goal of resolving the standoff through diplomacy. Iran's state television aired new video showing two of the 15 captured British sailors pointing to a spot on a map of the Persian Gulf where they were seized and saying it was in Iranian territorial waters; Britain's Foreign Office immediately denounced the video.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, An Iraqi military spokesman said that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence," spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once relatively untouched. A bomb struck a popular market in Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four. More than 600 Iraqis were killed in sectarian violence last week alone. 6 US soldiers were killed in roadside bombings over the weekend southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert invited Arab leaders to attend a peace conference to discuss their ideas for reaching Mideast peace. The Israeli army sealed off the West Bank ahead of the weeklong Passover holiday, restricting the movement of Palestinians into Israel. In her first Mideast trip as EU president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Europe's help in bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, trying to build on a new burst of international efforts to restart peace talks.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Monterrey, Mexico, a tractor-trailer lost its brakes and killed nine people as it plowed through a residential area. The driver of a tractor-trailer was charged with homicide after testing positive for drugs.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 1, Nepal's communist rebels joined an interim government as part of a landmark peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency, pledging to ensure development in the Himalayan nation and hold credible elections.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Palestinian journalists announced a three-day strike in protest at what they called their government's inadequate response to the suspected kidnap of a British journalist.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Mogadishu's dominant clan said it has brokered a truce with Ethiopian military officials who are supporting Somalia's government, even as mortar shells continued slamming into the capital for a fourth day.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, In South Korea taxi driver Huh Se-uk (53) drove through heavy security into the driveway of a Seoul hotel where trade talks with the US were taking place. He sprayed himself with flammable fluid and lit a fire, suffering third-degree burns. Se-uk died from his wounds on April 15.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Sri Lanka 12 Tamil Tigers were killed in clashes in the northwestern district of Mannar.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union soldiers guarding a "water point" near the Sudan’s border with Chad in the deadliest attack on the peacekeepers since their deployment in 2004. The attackers fled the scene after AU troops killed three of them in an exchange of fire.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Syria US House members meeting with President Bashar Assad said they believed there was an opportunity for dialogue.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 2, The US asked Tehran for information on the disappearance of a former FBI agent who went missing on a private business trip to Iran.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 2, The US Supreme Court ruled that a US government agency, the EPA, has the power under the clean air law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming. In its first case on climate change, the Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/2/08)(Econ, 2/12/11, p.36)
2007 Apr 2, Florida won its second consecutive college basketball championship, beating Ohio State 84-75; the Gators became the first team to repeat since Duke in 1991-92.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, Chicago’s police superintendent, Philip Cline, announced his retirement after 2 videos emerged of off-duty police officers beating civilians.
(Econ, 10/20/07, p.42)(http://tinyurl.com/2tt8en)
2007 Apr 2, Sam Zell, billionaire real estate investor, reached an agreement to buy the Chicago-based Tribune Co. in a 2-stage deal valued at $8.2 billion. The buyout was completed in December and saddled the firm with $8 billion in new debt. In 2008 the Tribune slid into bankruptcy.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C1)(Econ, 3/23/13, p.36)
2007 Apr 2, First Data Corp. said it is being acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $27 billion.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C3)
2007 Apr 2, In Afghanistan 3 police died when militants attacked a checkpoint on the road linking the southern town of Kandahar with Spin Boldak on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, A UN conference on climate change opened in Belgium with the EU's top environment official calling on the US to join efforts to curb global warming.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Canada's controversial annual seal hunt opened in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the worst ice conditions in more than two decades have nearly wiped out the herd there.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, China’s first deadline for income taxes was extended a few days because of low compliance. Anyone earning over 120,000 yuan ($15,500) annually was supposed to file a return. In southwestern China developers tore down a stubborn couple's house after a three-year standoff that hindered a construction project and captivated the nation. The couple reportedly negotiated a deal with the real estate developer that gives them a new apartment and a sizable compensation package.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)(AP, 4/3/07)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.39)
2007 Apr 2, In Iraq a suicide truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, including many children from a nearby school. A parked car exploded in a garage near a governmental property registration agency in western Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 10. A suicide bomber drove his car into a police checkpoint in the southern insurgent stronghold of Dora, killing four people, including two policemen. A roadside bomb killed four civilians and wounded 20 in the Shiite town of Khalis. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi military convoy, killing one soldier and wounding 7 in the Qazaniyah area northeast of Baghdad. 4 US soldiers were killed in combat.
(AP, 4/2/07)(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, Jordan's military court convicted six alleged militants of planning suicide attacks against Jordan's main international airport and against hotels hosting Israeli and American tourists.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Gunmen in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa State kidnapped two Lebanese nationals.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Around 5,000 tribesmen gathered in a Pakistani border area to enlist for ongoing battles against foreign Al-Qaeda militants.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Palestinian journalists began a three-day strike to protest the kidnapping of British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Alan Johnston, the longest-held reporter ever abducted in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Russia's foreign spy service released previously classified files on a double agent who, under the codename "Britt", passed secrets to Moscow from inside British intelligence in the 1940s.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Saudi Arabia signaled it is unlikely to accept an Israeli invitation to a regional peace conference, saying that Israel must first stop mistreating Palestinians and move to withdraw from Arab lands.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Tsunami waves churned by an undersea earthquake crashed ashore in the Solomon Islands, wiping away entire villages and triggering alerts from Australia to Hawaii. At least 50 people were killed.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, In Somalia a human rights organization said fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents has killed 381 people over four days.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, South Korea and the US agreed to a trade pact with only minutes to go before a deadline. Last-minute haggling meant missing two self-imposed deadlines over the weekend. Some estimates say the agreement could add $20 billion to the already more than $70 billion of two-way trade each year.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, In eastern Sri Lanka at least 16 people, including three children, were killed and 25 wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus. Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 23 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting in the island's east.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, In Sudan 53 people were killed in a gruesome pair of minibus accidents north of Khartoum.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Thailand's premier hailed ties with Japan as he prepared to sign a free-trade agreement with his country's top investor, easing international isolation of the kingdom since last year's coup. Army-installed PM Surayud Chulanont will sign the deal April 3, which Thailand hopes will boost investment from Japan.
(AFP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Ukraine’s president called early elections for May 27 amid a standoff with the pro-Russian premier, who vowed to fight what he called a coup.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 3, President Bush denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson (b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with over 50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid workers and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian authorities captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord accused in massacres and of running a murderous criminal band involved in drug trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the banana-growing Uraba region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already faces charges in the April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the southwestern town of Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death squads. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures said the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has risen to more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell short of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69), Asia's richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been battling cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated $4.2 billion (2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled her father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang left her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng shui in a will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong court deemed the will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics that Muslim nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in Iraq after a period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a student at Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), died from wounds due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th death in the school since 1993.
(AP, 4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that an Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen has been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively" seeking the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad and another on foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital. Iraqi and US troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the home of Sunni legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a dozen men for questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery, later denied the charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran of trying to discredit him because of his criticism of state policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range of traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the disqualification, setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an election meant to solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially dismissing the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir appointed the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial in Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in keeping with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio tower near Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of Ukrainian protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious confrontation between the prime minister and the president since the two men faced off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks of riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew overhead on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening economic hardships blamed on the government of President Robert Mugabe. The strike received a cool response from workers worried about forfeiting vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's worst economic performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 4, Apple updated its desktop Mac Pro computers adding two new 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, bringing 8-core processing to the Mac. The new machines can run the 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processors and are available as build to order options.
(www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/04/eightcore/index.php)
2007 Apr 4, Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2007 Apr 4, Jon and Karen Huntsman, the billionaire parents of Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman, announced that they would pay $1 million for a public education campaign in Utah about the risks of cervical cancer and a new vaccine that can prevent it.
(SFC, 4/5/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, NYSE Euronext shares slipped in their first day of trading following the completion of the $14 billion deal that created the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange. Jan-Michiel Hessels served as chairman of the NYSE following the merger with Euronext.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_bi_ge/nyse_euronext)(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, Film director Robert Clark (67), best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" (1983), was killed in southern California with his son in a head-on crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a drunken driver.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed the Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Argentina's main teachers' union called for a one-day national strike next week after protesting colleagues seeking higher pay clashed with riot police in two provinces.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, The United Nations children's agency called for urgent action to tackle a "humanitarian disaster" in the Central African Republic (CAR), affected by conflict for the past ten years.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Chile police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesting students in the capital of Santiago, and detained nearly 100 people.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Ecuador's constitutional court upheld a decision by the country's electoral tribunal to fire more than half of the politically unstable nation's legislature.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In India South Asian leaders (SAARC) wrapped up a two-day summit predicting a new dawn for the region but offering little in terms of concrete action.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines as an Easter holiday "gift" to the British people. Syria said it played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran. Turkey brokered the release of the British sailors.
(AP, 4/4/07)(Econ, 8/21/10, p.42)
2007 Apr 4, Iraq's top corruption fighter said that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying power plant workers in a predominantly Sunni area west of Kirkuk, killing six men. Gunmen also attacked a police patrol near Baqouba, killing four officers. 6 of the gunmen were killed in a subsequent gunbattle. Two mortar rounds also slammed into a house in the predominantly Shiite town of Khalis, just after midnight, killing a woman and wounding two other women and a 4-year-old boy. Gunmen wearing police uniforms seized 22 shepherds and their sheep in southern Iraq in the latest mass abduction of Shiite workers by presumed Sunni insurgents. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers and wounded three others in southern Baghdad. Another blast north of the capital killed two soldiers and wounded one.
(AP, 4/4/07)(AFP, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, New Ivory Coast PM Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader who has controlled the north for four years, took office, a key step in an accord aimed at bringing a lasting peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Kuwait a medical source said preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged Africa to form a unified continental army to defend its interests. He said former colonial powers should pay compensation for the raw materials they had extracted.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March 31 from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was kidnapped March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working for a construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Northern Ireland protestant leader Ian Paisley shook hands with Irish PM Bertie Ahern in public for the first time, marking another small step on the path to peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Heavy fighting between Pakistani tribesmen and foreign militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida killed 60 people near the Afghan border. About 50 of those killed in the past 24 hours in the South Waziristan region were Uzbeks. The main commander of the tribal militia battling the foreign militants is Maulvi Nazir, a known Taliban sympathizer who the government says has come over to its side. Nazir recently established Islamic courts throughout South Waziristan, a 10,000-square-mile area with some 500,000 inhabitants.
(AP, 4/4/07)(SFC, 6/1/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 4, A Palestinian gunman was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in an area where militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In the Philippines police said they found the bodies of two missing members of the militant Peasant Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, near a river in the northern town of Lailo in Cagayan province.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Sri Lanka’s defense ministry said its warplanes "bombed and completely destroyed" a key Tamil Tiger naval base.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Damascus US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader despite White House objections, saying she pressed President Bashar Assad over his country's support for militant groups and passed him a peace message from Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Thousands of supporters of Ukraine's Russian-leaning prime minister marched to the office of the pro-Western president, protesting a presidential order to hold early elections.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Offices and factories in Zimbabwe's two main cities were operating as normal on the second day of a 48-hour strike called by the main labor organization over the deepening economic crisis. Many workers appeared to have shunned the call on the second day of the stoppage organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 5, The US pressed Ethiopia for details on detainees from 19 nations taken to secret prisons there and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, The US Transportation Dept. said it will require all passenger vehicles to have electronic gear to prevent deadly rollovers by 2012.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist persuaded 2 of 3 members of the state board of executive clemency that most felons had served their time and should automatically recover the right to vote.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.35)
2007 Apr 5, FBI Special Agent Barry Lee Bush was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent as a stakeout team closed in on three suspected bank robbers in Readington, N.J.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, In San Mateo, Ca., Dr. William Ayres (75), a published child psychologist, was arrested on 14 counts of child molestation, which dated back as far as 1969. 4 new charges were added on April 12. In 2013 Ayres was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/13/07, p.B1)(SFC, 8/27/13, p.C1)
2007 Apr 5, Darryl Stingley (55), a former New England Patriots player paralyzed during an on-field collision in 1978, died in Chicago.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, Australian police charged two men, including an army captain, with stealing military rocket launchers, some of which ended up in the hands of a suspected terrorist.
(AFP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Fifteen British sailors and marines held captive by Iran returned home to a nation relieved at their freedom but also outraged that they were used by Tehran's propaganda machine.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Ramzan Kadyrov was inaugurated as the new president of Chechnya on a blessing from the Kremlin, which has relied on him to stabilize the region after more than a decade of separatist fighting.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, China told banks to increase their reserves for the third time this year, cutting the amount of money available for lending in a new effort to cool an investment boom that Beijing worries could lead to a financial crisis. Chinese celebrated the annual tomb-sweeping festival, but state media said soaring funeral costs were leading to people complaining they can no longer afford to die.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bus carrying passengers on the start of the Easter holiday crashed in northern Colombia, igniting a blaze that killed 27 people, including six children.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Greek cruise ship, the Sea Diamond, sank off the Aegean Sea island of Santorini, forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people.
(AP, 4/5/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.E3)
2007 Apr 5, The editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia was acquitted of charges that he violated the Muslim nation's indecency laws by publishing pictures of scantily clothed women.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bomb struck an oil pipeline, cutting off supplies and causing a huge fire in southern Iraq near the border with Kuwait. A US Army helicopter went down south of Baghdad, injuring 4 of the 9 soldiers aboard. A US soldier was killed by small-arms fire while on patrol in eastern Baghdad. 4 British soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter were killed in an ambush in southern Iraq. Thaer Ahmed, assistant director of Baghdad TV, was killed when a car bomb struck the television offices in Jami'a, in west Baghdad. 12 people were wounded. Police in west Baghdad found the bullet-riddled body of Khamael Muhsin, a famous television presenter during Saddam Hussein's rule. She was kidnapped two days ago. Gunmen killed 18 Iraqi, British and American soldiers in the past 24 hours in attacks in Baghdad, the southern oil hub of Basra and near the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 4/5/07)(Reuters, 4/5/07)(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 5, Kosovo's parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a UN plan that proposes internationally supervised independence for the disputed province.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, In eastern Pakistan a speeding tractor plowed into a roadside school, killing nine children and injuring 18 others.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A British diplomat met with Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh to push for the release of a kidnapped BBC journalist, the first direct meeting between a European Union diplomat and a Hamas official of the Palestinians' new coalition government.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Attackers fired a grenade into a mosque in Thailand's restive south, wounding 16 Muslim worshippers in an act of defiance after authorities imposed a strict curfew to contain escalating violence.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Ugandan court scrapped the nation's adultery law, saying it was unconstitutional and favored men.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, The US Department of Education said an official in its student financial aid office has been placed on paid leave while his stock ownership in a student loan company is being reviewed.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Arizona authorities found at least 80 suspected illegal immigrants in a house west of Phoenix and arrested two suspected smugglers.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Florida US District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Luis Posada Carriles could be released on $250,000 bond. He is being held at the Otero County jail in New Mexico on charges he lied to immigration authorities in a bid to become a naturalized citizen. Posada, a former CIA operative, is wanted in Cuba in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people, a charge Posada denies. Castro has repeatedly accused the US government of protecting Posada.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 6, In San Francisco Umar Hudson stabbed his girlfriend, Jernell Scott, to death in front of her home on Ellsworth Street after she reported his sexual abuse of her two daughters, aged 9 & 13. In 2012 Hudson (35) was sentenced to 205 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 1/26/12, p.C6)
2007 Apr 6, Supernova SN2007bi was first observed in a nearby dwarf galaxy. It burned steadily for months. In 2009 scientists reported that the explosion was probably that of a super massive star, at least two hundred times the mass of the Sun.
(www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=astronomers-witness-biggest-st)
2007 Apr 6, in Afghanistan a suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint in Kabul, killing four people, including a policeman who tried to stop him. Taliban rebels seized control of Khak Afghan district in southern Zabul province.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Royal Navy lieutenant who was among the captives held by Iran said British sailors and marines held for nearly two weeks were blindfolded, bound and threatened with prison if they did not say they strayed into Iranian waters.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Health officials said teenage girls in Cambodia and Indonesia have died of bird flu as the virus continues to stalk across Asia.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics. These included consent from the deceased owner’s family.
(AP, 4/7/07)(Econ., 3/14/15, p.48)
2007 Apr 6, The Greek cruise ship Sea Diamond, which had struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank, 15 hours after it began taking on water off the coast of Santarini Island. Navy divers searched around the sunken wreckage for a Frenchman and his daughter, the only two passengers still missing.
(AP, 4/6/07)(SFC, 4/6/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 6, Iraq’s government it has ordered that senior officers of Saddam Hussein's military receive pensions and requested that lower-ranking soldiers serve again as part of a sectarian reconciliation plan. The decision was made last month. A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens. American troops swept into the troubled, predominantly Shiite city of Diwaniyah before dawn, killing three militia fighters and capturing 27 in the first day of an assault, named "Operation Black Eagle." In Baghdad, two American soldiers were killed and seven were wounded by two separate roadside bombs.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Amado Ramirez, the Acapulco correspondent for Mexico's top television news network, was shot to death.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pakistani mullah Abdul Aziz said he had set up a Taliban-style Islamic court at his mosque in Islamabad and pledged "tens of thousands" of suicide attacks if the government tries to shut it down.
(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pasteur Bizimungu, Rwanda's first post-genocide leader, walked free from prison after a surprise presidential pardon of his convictions that included inciting ethnic tension.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Saudi Arabia Waleed bin Mutlaq al-Radadi, among the kingdom's most wanted terrorists, was killed in a gunbattle with Saudi forces. Al-Radadi was implicated in the Feb 26 killing of 4 French nationals.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 6, Somali pirates freed two hijacked merchant ships, including one that had just delivered UN food aid when it was seized more than a month ago with 12 crew on board.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Chinese delegation arrived in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for a 4-day visit. They met officials and visited camps for the internally displaced.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 6, UN climate experts issued their starkest warning yet about the impact of global warming, ranging from hunger in Africa to a fast thaw in the Himalayas, in a report that increased pressure on governments to act.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Human migrant traffickers forced some 300 African migrants to jump into the sea off Yemen causing at least 32 to die.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 7, The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration in January allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in an apparent violation of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution passed months earlier over its nuclear test.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of people marched through downtown Los Angeles, demanding a way for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens and condemning President Bush's latest proposal.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, took in more than $400 million in compensation in 2006, one of the biggest single-year payouts in US corporate history.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The sport salmon fishing season opened in California.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, In Oregon 15 libraries in Jackson were due to close following the loss of $7 million in federal funding.
(SSFC, 3/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that injections of Mycobacterium vaccae into mice caused their immune systems to produce serotonin. This neurotransmitter, when low in humans, was known to be related to depression.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.79)
2007 Apr 7, Johnny Hart (76), creator of the B.C. comic strip (1958), died at his home in Endicott, NY. He and Brant Parker created the “Wizard of Id" strip.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 7, Actor Barry Nelson (b.1917) died in Bucks County, Pa. He was the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond in a 1954 TV adoption of Casino Royale.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.B8)(AP, 4/7/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Nelson)
2007 Apr 7, In southwestern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed Afghan workers of an American de-mining company, leaving seven people dead and four wounded. Officials said more than 1,000 NATO and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban and took over control of Sangin, a district center in southern Afghanistan long held by the militants.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Suspected Islamist militants opened fire on a military patrol in northwestern Algeria, starting a gunbattle that left nine soldiers and six attackers dead.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In Brazil Martin Strel, a 52-year-old Slovenian, completed a 3,272 swim down the Amazon River that could set a world record for distance. In 2000, he completed a 1,866-mile swim along the Danube. He broke that record two years later after swimming 2,360 miles down the Mississippi. In 2004 he broke it again by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In India a jeep carrying a gelatin-based explosive used for a highway construction project exploded in a southern village, killing 16 people and injuring 22 more.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, US warplanes attacked suspected militiamen wielding shoulder-fired rockets in the second day of fierce fighting against Shiite gunmen south of Baghdad. At least one civilian was killed and five were seriously wounded when an American tank fired on their house in Diwaniyah. Iraqi troops killed Abu Baraa al-Libi, a Libyan al-Qaida figure, in a raid on his Baghdad hideout just before the man could detonate an explosives belt he was wearing. US forces also killed one suspect and captured 8 others in raids in Baghdad and south of Ramadi. A roadside bomb exploded next to a joint American-Iraqi army patrol on a highway leading into Annah, 175 miles northwest of Baghdad. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and two were wounded. Police in Fallujah reported finding four bodies in the center of the city. Four American soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. Duaa Khalil Aswad (17), a member of the insular Yazidi religious sect, was stoned to death for loving a Sunni Muslim boy [see April 22].
(AP, 4/7/07)(AP, 4/8/07)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A8)
2007 Apr 7, An Israeli helicopter launched an airstrike along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, killing a Palestinian militant and wounding two others.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The 17-year insurgency in Kashmir continued with an average of 3 lives lost every day. India had an estimated 600,000 soldiers and paramilitary police stationed in Jammu & Kashmir state.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.14)
2007 Apr 7, Emergency officials said 247 dead seals have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan in the past week.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Libya’s foreign-exchange reserves were estimated at $56 billion. The population was reported to be about 5.6 million.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 7, Malaysian ministers issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.
(AFP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, In northern Pakistan some 40 people were killed and more than 70 injured in 2 days of sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Kurram.
(AFP, 4/7/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 7, In the southern Philippines 9 soldiers and a civilian were killed in a clash in a small army camp in Jolo island’s Parang town.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending Charles Simonyi and two cosmonauts soaring into orbit on a two-day journey to the international space station.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, A roadside bomb tore through a civilian bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing seven people and wounding 26. The army blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of supporters of Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovych rallied for a fifth day in the streets of Kiev, calling for stability amid a political crisis over the president's dissolution of parliament.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Yemeni police arrested three men suspected of setting fire to a mosque and wounding at least 33 people.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 8, Zach Johnson won the Masters with a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2007 Apr 8, Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor who has undertaken diplomatic missions to countries at odds with the United States, began a rare visit to isolated North Korea to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, A federal judge in El Paso, Texas, dismissed immigration fraud charges against Luis Posada Carriles (79), a former CIA operative accused of masterminding a 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airplane along with 1997 bombings in Havana.
(SFC, 5/10/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 8, Sol LeWitt (b.1928), Connecticut-based artist, photographer and sculptor, died in NY. He was known for his dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art styles. “LeWitt brought about a fundamental shift in taste with sculptures and drawings that put thought rather than feeling, ideas rather than aesthetics at the forefront."
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.D9)(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.P16)(SFC, 3/26/11, p.E1)
2007 Apr 8, A purported spokesman for the Taliban said the kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was killed in southern Afghanistan. In the eastern Paktika province, two Afghan guards were killed and five wounded during a four-hour firefight with Taliban militants. In eastern Khost province, a gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle opened fire on Afghans working for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, killing two of the men and wounding another. In eastern Nangarhar province, a suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a US-led coalition convoy. 2 roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan left seven NATO soldiers dead. 6 Canadians died in one of the 2 blasts.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Argentina 7 managers of Skanska, a Swedish construction firm, were arrested for tax evasion. Skanska sacked the managers and paid the tax authority almost $5 million.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 Apr 8, Britain's Defense Ministry came under fire for allowing 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran for 13 days to sell their stories to the media.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Chinese ship, Jinhaikun, and a foreign cargo vessel, Harvest, collided off the east China coast in Taizhou Bay. 19 Chinese and one Indonesian missing in the accident were all on the Harvest.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In western Iran at least 26 people were killed and 18 others injured after a truck smashed into a bus.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with the US and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate their attacks on American troops rather than Iraqis. A pickup truck loaded with artillery shells exploded near a hospital in Mahmoudiyah, killing 17 Iraqis. US forces captured a senior al-Qaida leader and two others in a raid in Baghdad. 6 US soldiers were killed in a series of attack.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AFP, 4/9/07)(SFC, 4/9/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 8, In Japan Nationalist Shintaro Ishihara won a third term as governor of Tokyo.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The body of a murdered South African national, Kenneth Scott Andrew (26), was found in a plastic bag on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Palestinian attacker stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers at a checkpoint outside a Hebron shrine that has been a flashpoint for violence in the past.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In the Philippines Julia Campbell (40), American Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Va., was last seen in the town of Banaue in Ifugao province. Her body was found April 18 in a shallow grave near Batad village. In 2008 Juan Duntugan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/30/08)
2007 Apr 9, President Bush visited the US-Mexico border to tout a guest worker program for immigrants.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2007 Apr 9, Don Imus, nationally syndicated shock jock, was suspended for 2 weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC due to his calling members of the Rutgers Univ. women’s basketball team “nappy-headed ho’s." On April 11 NBC News decided to fire him; CBS followed the next day.
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Suspected Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rocket propelled grenades in southern Afghanistan, killing two soldiers and wounding up to 14. Suspected Taliban attacked a police vehicle north of Kandahar city, leaving a policeman dead.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Thousands of teachers walked out of public schools across Argentina in a daylong strike to demand higher pay and justice for a slain colleague.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Britain's government beat a hasty retreat under withering criticism for allowing sailors and marines to be paid large sums for their stories about captivity in Iran.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, East Timor held elections. A Nobel laureate squared off with two rivals in presidential elections that could test East Timor's fragile calm a year after one of the world's youngest and poorest nations reached the brink of civil war.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, An Ethiopian judge freed 25 journalists charged in a treason trial involving more than 100 opposition figures that has drawn international criticism as being politically motivated.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, State press reported that China's farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, China urged Sudan to be more flexible on a plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan to bolster peacekeeping operations in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Iran announced that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, dramatically expanding a program that the UN has demanded it halt. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard general visited Russia despite a UN travel ban over Tehran nuclear defiance. Russia denied any violation.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Tens of thousands draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched peacefully through the streets from Kufa to Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall. Demonstrators were flanked by two cordons of police as they called for US forces to leave, shouting "Get out, get out occupier!" In southern Baghdad, a sniper killed a civilian and a policeman, and a mortar round killed one person and wounded two others. A total of 25 people were killed or found dead across Iraq. 4 US soldiers were killed, 3 by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern Baghdad and another in combat in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/9/07)(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Japan lent some 850 million dollars to PM Nuri al-Maliki's government as the oil-hungry Asian power looked to boost output from the war-torn country. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki met with Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, starting off a four-day visit that was delayed after Iran refused to allow his plane to fly over its airspace.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Pakistan’s army announced that the Talibs had cleared foreigners from South Waziristan.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 9, Puerto Rico seven inmates, convicted of homicides, escaped from prison using ventilation ducts.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Two Russian cosmonauts and US billionaire Charles Simony bringing a gourmet meal arrived at the international space station, to a warm welcome from current crewmen.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Officials said the yearly salaries of Singapore's well-paid government ministers are headed higher, by 60 percent to more than $1.25 million by the end of 2008. Premier Lee Hsein Lloong will now make $2.1 million a year.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, A Sudanese army spokesman said 17 Sudanese soldiers were killed in clashes with Chadian troops inside Sudanese territory.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, In an Easter message pinned to church bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops called on President Robert Mugabe to leave office or face "open revolt" from those suffering under his government.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, The US Treasury Department said authorities in Macau are ready to release frozen North Korean funds that have impeded disarmament talks.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Maryland became the first US state to approve a plan to give its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the candidate chosen by state voters. The plan would only go into effect if states representing a majority of the nation’s 538 electoral votes decided to make the same change.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Protein Sciences, a vaccine company, said caterpillars offer a faster, safer medium to culture flue vaccine than chicken eggs.
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, Dakota Staton (b.1930), jazz singer, died in NYC. She was well known for her 1957 album “The Late, Late Show."
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 10, A court in the Bahamas announced that DNA tests proved Larry Birkhead, the former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, is the father of her infant daughter.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 10, Bolivia opened a new front in its fight to reduce illegal coca production, sending US-backed eradication teams into a traditional coca-growing region in the Andean foothills long avoided by previous governments.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Diabetes scientists reported that 15 Type 1 Brazilians did not need insulin shots after therapy with stem cells from their own blood. It was also reported that such stem cells helped repair heart damage due to Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, carried by kissing bugs (barbeiros).
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, China reported a sharp drop in its politically sensitive trade surplus and angrily rejected US plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint over product piracy amid pressure for Beijing to rein in its bulging trade gap. The US filed two new complaints against China at the WTO over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books. China missed its deadline for announcing a total tally of completed tax returns. Officials estimated some 1.6 million filed with 6m-7m required to file.
(AP, 4/10/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s southeast Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported killed this month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in temperature."
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Peter Brixtofte (57), the free-spending Danish mayor of Hilleroed (1986-2002), was convicted of abusing his office and sentenced to two years in prison. He had became hugely popular for offering free vacations to retirees and computers to school children.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The Ethiopian government acknowledged detaining 41 suspected international terrorists from 17 countries and said foreign investigators were given permission to question them. A statement said 29 of the suspects have been ordered released by a Military Court and five already have been freed.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that a British woman left infertile after being treated for ovarian cancer has no right to frozen embryos against the wishes of her former fiance, who provided the sperm.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Greece cleanup crews struggled to avert a major oil spill after a sunken cruise ship leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini at the start of the summer tourist season.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Iraq's prime minister began a visit to South Korea saying he wants to learn from the Asian nation's fast rise as an economic power. A woman with explosives hidden beneath her abaya detonated them in a crowd of about 200 police recruits in Muqdadiyah, killing at least 16 people. A battle in two Sunni enclaves left 20 suspected insurgents and 4 Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 US soldiers wounded. A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Baghdad University, killing at least 6 people and wounding 11. A Katyusha rocket hit a basketball court at a boy’s school in eastern Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others. US troops began building a wall around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 10, Israeli authorities said they had arrested 19 Palestinian militants in March for planning to set off a huge car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Jewish holiday of Passover.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea, which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test last year.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The African Union readmitted Mauritania to the pan-African organization from which it was suspended after a coup in 2005.
(AFP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Moroccan police surrounded a building in Casablanca where four terrorism suspects were holed, causing three to flee and blow themselves up with explosives. The fourth was shot dead by a police sharpshooter as he apparently tried to detonate his bomb.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Officials from North and South Korea's Red Cross societies resumed talks on resolving the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees believed held in the communist country.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Panama the charred and mutilated body of Staten Island businesswoman Toni Grossi Abrams (57) was found on the outskirts of Panama City. Debra Ann Ridgley (56) of Pennsylvania, was later arrested as a suspect in the killing but had not been formally charged. Police searched for two other suspects identified as Colombian men, one of whom has previous drug charges against him.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Serbia 4 paramilitaries seen in a video gunning down Bosnian Muslims near Srebrenica in 1995 were convicted of war crimes against civilians by Serbia's War Crimes Court.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Khartoum to join the international push for UN peacekeepers in Darfur, amid fears of a regional spillover after clashes between Sudan and Chad. Officials said the UN, the African Union and the Sudanese government have reached agreement to beef up the African force in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region with UN troops, police and equipment.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Clashes between Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil rebels in the island's north killed about 30 people. In southern Sri Lanka a passenger bus collided with a beer delivery truck and burst into flames, killing at least 23 people and injuring 56.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Switzerland thieves stole jewelry worth about $825,000 from the Baselwood fair, the world's biggest and most luxurious watch and jewelry fair.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 11, The US Pentagon extended Iraq and Afghan tours of duty for all troops from 12 months to 15 months.
(WSJ, 4/1207, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, A federal grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, indicted Christopher Paul (43), a US citizen, on charges of joining al-Qaida in the 1990s and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and US government facilities and military bases overseas. Paul, born as Paul Kenyatta Laws, changed his name to Abdulmalek Kenyatta in 1989, then to Christopher Paul in 1994.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he will announce a settlement with a "significant" student lender as a probe into a college loan scandal continued to broaden.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Joe Francis (b.1973), the creator of the “Girls Gone Wild" video series, was indicted in Reno, Nevada, on federal tax charges. In September 2009, Francis pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers. On November 5, 2009, US District Judge S. James Otero accepted Francis’ deal on the grounds that a key witness withheld information from prosecutors.
(SFC, 1/29/10, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Francis)
2007 Apr 11, North Carolina's top prosecutor dropped all charges against three former Duke University lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party, saying the athletes were innocent victims of a "tragic rush to accuse."
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, MSNBC announced it was dropping its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, responding to growing outrage about host Don Imus' racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team. CBS Radio followed suit the next day.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial institution, said it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund announced a $15 million donation for renovations at the Presidio. Plans included 24 new trails.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, Roscoe Lee Browne (b.1925), stage, film and TV actor, died in Los Angeles. In 1966 he made his directorial stage debut with “A Hand is on the Gate: An Evening of Negro Poetry and Folk Music."
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 11, Kurt Vonnegut (b.1922), regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died in NYC. He mixed the bitter and funny with a touch of the profound in books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus." In 2009 Loree Rackstraw, a former student, authored “Love as Always, Kurt: Vonnegut As I Knew Him." In 2011 Charles J. Shields authored “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life."
(AP, 4/12/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.98)(WSJ, 3/16/09, p.A17)(SSFC, 11/27/11, p.F1)
2007 Apr 11, In southern Afghanistan a suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy, wounding seven civilians, while a US-led coalition airstrike killed 13 suspected militants. Another bomb blast in the south killed two Canadian soldiers and wounded three others.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Algeria bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office in Algiers and a police station. Three bomb attacks killed 20 people and wounded 222.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)(AFP, 3/13/12)
2007 Apr 11, Bangladesh police said main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, former prime minister and head of the Awami League, has been charged over the murder of four people during political violence which racked the nation's capital last October.
(AP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 11, In Brazil Gov. Sergio Cabral Filho formally requested that the army intervene to contain the violence that has been spiraling out of control in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, PM Tony Blair urged Britain's black communities to speak out against gang culture and called again for tougher laws against gangs amid a spate of gun and knife murders.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Canadian National Railway faced picket lines, but the union said it does not plan this new job action to be as disruptive as the strike that hamstrung Canada's largest railway in February.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Three candidates battled for a spot in East Timor's presidential runoff after none got enough votes to win outright.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Officials said Ecuador’s former President Gustavo Noboa will face charges for allegedly mishandling foreign debt negotiations during his three-year term (2000-2003).
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, Guyana's Pres. Bharrat Jagdeo said former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik has withdrawn from contracts to advise two Caribbean governments on security because of unresolved legal troubles in the United States.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a new report titled "Civilians Without Protection: The Ever-worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq." Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the US military spokesman, said Iranian intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters inside Iran on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Ivory Coast government and rebels signed an agreement with foreign peacekeepers to dismantle a buffer zone dividing the west African nation since 2002. The deal required the head of the UN mission to sign off on election results.
(AFP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.60)
2007 Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers, moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Kyrgyzstan thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the main square of Bishkek to press President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign. Bakiyev had sought to head off the opposition protest by signing constitutional amendments curtailing his power a day earlier, but the opposition rejected his move and showed up in full force.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, A Mexican court ordered the reinstatement of ousted mineworkers’ union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, more than a year after the government turned him out of office based on complaints of corruption.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Morocco presented its plan to grant self-rule to the disputed Western Sahara territory to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Nigeria 5 people, including a senior police officer, were killed in clashes between rival cult gangs in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 11, North Korea replaced its prime minister during a session of its rubber-stamp parliament. US envoys entered South Korea from North Korea in a rare border crossing after securing the remains of six American soldiers from the Korean War and pushing for action on the North's nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, More than 50 Philippine military officers pleaded guilty to violating military order and discipline in a plea bargain, escaping lengthy jail terms for a failed mutiny in Manila nearly four years ago.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its partners ceded a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 gas project to Russia’s state owned OAO Gazprom. The deal also entitled Gazprom a percentage of profits from oil and gas and increased managerial control.
(WSJ, 4/26/07, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/39c2yh)
2007 Apr 11, In Somalia Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic insurgents exchanged gunfire in northern Mogadishu, killing three people and ending more than a week of relative calm.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, At least 40 civilians were killed and 25 wounded in an attack believed to have be carried out by the Janjaweed militia in the war-torn Darfur region.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 12, The new US “forever" postage stamp was scheduled to go on sale. The cost for first class mail was set to rise to 41 cents on May 14.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 12, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged that he erred in helping a close female friend get transferred to a high-paying job. "I made a mistake for which I am sorry," he said.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, CBS fired Don Imus from his radio program for insulting the Rutgers women's basketball team on the air. In the evening, Imus met with team members at the New Jersey governor's mansion in Princeton.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2007 Apr 12, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine was involved in an SUV crash as he headed to a meeting between radio show host Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team. The crash occurred when the SUV, driven by a state trooper, was hit by another vehicle that swerved to avoid the pickup truck. Corzine was not wearing his seat belt, as required by law, and the crash left him with such serious injuries that he required a ventilator.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 12, In NYC transit officials and politicians broke ground on the Second Avenue line in East Harlem.
(Econ, 4/21/07, p.34)(www.mta.info/mta/news/releases07/index.html?en=070412)
2007 Apr 12, Muzak announced plans to merge with rival DMX. The company was moving in the direction of sensory branding and identifying songs that suit particular companies.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.74)
2007 Apr 12, A study said scientists have decoded the genome sequence of rhesus monkeys proving they share 93% of man's genetic make-up.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Kelsie B. Harder, onomastician (a student of names and their origins), died in Potsdam, NY. His books included “Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names" (1976),
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 12, In southern Afghanistan a US-led coalition and Afghan troops backed by aircraft clashed with suspected Taliban fighters, leaving more than 35 militants dead. Roadside bombs struck two NATO convoys in the east, killing two soldiers. US and Afghan troops rescued five civilian contractors pinned down by small arms fire from insurgents in central Afghanistan after their helicopter made an emergency landing. A coalition aircraft attacked the militants, killing three. The contractors were evacuated to a nearby coalition base.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Brazilian police broke up a gang accused of killing hundreds of people over several years, arresting 18 suspects and searching for 10 others. The gang, made up of police officers, hired guns and businessmen, had carried out up to 200 killings a year over the past five years, most of them linked to loan sharking.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In London the Beatles' Apple Corps company settled a royalties dispute with record label EMI, raising hopes that Beatles recordings may soon be legally available online.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Cali to protest the bombing of the city's police barracks, blamed on Colombia's largest leftist rebel group.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, India test-fired a new missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a 1,900-mile range. Indonesia said the missile forced 2 of its jetliners off course.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria in the deadliest-ever attack in the American-guarded Green Zone. Mohammed Awad, a moderate Sunni lawmaker, was killed in the attack and 22 were wounded. The next day an insurgent umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed one of its "knights" carried out the parliament suicide bombing. 11 civilians were killed in a bombing of Baghdad’s al-Sarafiya bridge. 7 were killed by a powerful suicide truck bomb, and 4 perished when their cars plummeted into the river. The bodies of radio newscaster and her husband were found in Mosul, three days after being kidnapped by gunmen.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Toyota named the first non-Japanese to its board of directors, appointing American James Press, the automaker's president of North American operations, amid growing fears of a political backlash for its booming US sales.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Mexican President Felipe Calderon signed a law eliminating prison sentences for libel or defamation, drawing praise from media watchdog groups.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Morocco’s police detained two men near the scene of three suicide bombings in Casablanca, and a police official said one was carrying explosives.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, An international conservation group tens of thousands of villagers could be displaced and a fragile ecosystem destroyed by a hydropower project being built on northeastern Myanmar's Salween River.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Norwegian oil rig support vessel carrying 15 people capsized off northern Scotland and five crew members were missing.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that tribesmen have killed about 300 foreign militants during a weekslong offensive near the Afghan border and acknowledged for first time that they received military support. Gunfights erupted again in villages near the Afghan border where clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have killed at least 49 people over the past week.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Polish officials said Google plans to open an operations center in Wroclaw later this year, creating 200 new jobs and boosting the city's efforts to become a technology hub.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Russian authorities said they have halted the work of all foreign adoption agencies for several months, virtually shutting down the placement of children from one of the most important countries for US families seeking to adopt.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, The Swiss-based Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, said it will buy Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical maker Novartis SA for $5.5 billion, giving it the largest share of the global baby food market.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Syrian-American businessman with ties to the Damascus government made an unprecedented appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel, telling lawmakers that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to make peace with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Thailand police said the king has pardoned a Swiss man who was given a 10-year sentence for spray-painting over images of the revered monarch, but the longtime Thailand resident has been ordered to leave the country.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Turkey's army chief said the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In Uganda protesters stoned to death two people of Asian origin during a demonstration against a Ugandan-Indian company that wants to grow sugar cane in this country's largest natural forest. Two others were also killed in the rioting.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai expressed optimism about planned talks between his party and President Robert Mugabe's government to end the crisis in the country.
(AFP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Delaware a special committee of the board of directors of Computer Associates accused founder and former chairman Charles Wang of directing and participating in fraudulent accounting during the 1980s and 1990s, which the US government had described as totaling $2.2 billion.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 13, Google said that it will purchase DoubleClick, an Internet services company, for $3.1 billion. This transformed Google into an powerhouse across the entire digital advertising industry.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A3)(SFC, 10/5/20, p.C1)
2007 Apr 13, In NYC lawyer Moshe Kanovsky (31) leaped to his death from the 69th floor of the Empire State Building. At least 30 people have jumped from the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 13, In SF Mayor Newsom brokered an agreement to ban cars from Golden Gate Park’s main road for 6 months of the year and to make permanent a Sunday ban for a smaller area. The deal still required approval from the board of Supervisors.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 13, A firefight in southern Afghanistan killed one NATO soldier and wounded two others. Eight suspected insurgents were killed by British forces west of Basra. The suspects had been planting bombs in the path of a British patrol.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Australia’s PM John Howard said that people with HIV should not be allowed to migrate to Australia, and that the government was investigating whether it could tighten existing restrictions.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, An Austrian bank recently bought by a US-led consortium acknowledged it told a Cuban-born client to take her business elsewhere and suggested that Washington's ban on commerce with Cuba was behind the decision.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Federal police in Brazil arrested the chief organizer of Rio's carnival parade, a federal judge and a prosecutor in a crack-down on illegal gaming and money laundering.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A leading rebel in the Central African Republic said he would be signing a peace deal with President Francois Bozize in the northeastern town of Birao.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of Tai Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region known for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light industry and chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 13, Iraq's parliament met in an extraordinary session on a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and declared it would not bow to terrorism; a bouquet of red roses and a white lily sat in the place of a lawmaker killed in a parliament dining hall suicide bombing. A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded four others in southern Baghdad. US forces captured 14 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members in raids.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/13/08)
2007 Apr 13, In Malaysia the Negeri Sembilan state government closed down a museum exhibition on ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings after Islamic clerics claimed it was detrimental to Muslims' faith.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Nigeria gunmen shot dead a radical Muslim cleric in his mosque and fired on the congregation, killing two more people, in the northern city of Kano.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Protesters burned an effigy of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and demanded his resignation, as thousands rallied across Pakistan during a court hearing for a top judge removed by the government.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Five European countries and the European Commission signed an accord on under which they will give 5.2 million dollars for administrative reforms within the Palestinian presidency.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Former President Alejandro Toledo returned to Peru to visit his ailing sister and face accusations that he forged signatures nearly a decade ago to get his party on the 2000 presidential ballot.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Muslim rebels fired mortar bombs on a Philippines marine base in the southern island of Jolo, killing two soldiers and a child.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most vocal opponents, called for the use of force to oust President Vladimir Putin and claimed he has support from some in the country's political elite. In response, Russia's chief prosecutor opened a criminal case against Berezovsky on charges of plotting a coup. Britain, granted Berezovsky refugee status in 2003.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Tanzania the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered that Michel Bagaragaza, the former head of Rwanda's national tea industry, be tried by a court in the Netherlands. He was accused of involvement in Rwanda’s 1994 mass slaughter. In Sep, 2009, Bagaragaza (64) pleaded guilty to complicity in the slaughter. In Nov he was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
(AFP, 4/13/07)(AP, 9/17/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2007 Apr 13, African health ministers meeting in South Africa adopted a health strategy to deal with the host of diseases on the continent, a dearth of health workers and failing health systems.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A landmine killed nine Sudanese army soldiers and wounded 11 on Sudan's eastern border with Ethiopia.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Benedict XVI published “Jesus of Nazareth," his first book as pope. It offered a very personal meditation on the early years of Christ's life and teachings criticized the "cruelty" of capitalism and colonialism and the power of the wealthy over the poor. A second installment, released in 2011, concerned the final part of Christ's life, his death and resurrection.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 3/2/11)
2007 Apr 14, The Morongo Indian reservation in southern California and its 775 adult members reportedly received seven-tenths of their casino’s profits which amounted to roughly $15,000 to $20,000 per person, per month. In 1989 the tribe’s average, annual household income was $13,000.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.29)
2007 Apr 14, Legendary crooner Don Ho (76) died in Hawaii. He had entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles."
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up next to several Afghan border policemen, leaving at least seven officers dead and six others wounded. 3 suspected militants carrying explosives on their bodies were killed when their bombs went off just outside the southern city of Ghazni. Also in Ghazni, two Afghan army soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the province's Ander district.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Thousands of landless workers invaded government property in Brazil's arid northeast to try to stop a controversial river-diversion project. About 7,500 people invaded plots of government-owned land near Petrolina, 1,360 miles north of Sao Paulo in Pernambuco state.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 14, The population of Brazil numbered about 188 million people.
(Econ, 4/14/07, SR p.3)
2007 Apr 14, June Callwood (82), often described as Canada's social conscience, died.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A Chinese rocket placed a navigation satellite in orbit as part of an effort to build a global positioning system.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, The Egyptian state news agency MENA said that Neo-Nazis had attacked an Egyptian diplomat in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian government has said it deeply regrets the incident.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A video showing a German army instructor telling one of his soldiers to envision African-Americans in the Bronx while firing his machine gun was broadcast on national television. The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines, killing 47 people and over 200 wounded. The bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. At least 16 children were among the dead. A suicide car bomb killed 10 people on Jadriyah bridge in downtown Baghdad, the second attack on a span over the Tigris river this week. 4 would-be suicide attackers were killed in Kirkuk when one of them detonated his explosives belt prematurely. 3 civilians and a policeman were killed in drive-by shootings in Fallujah and Hillah. American troops captured 17 suspected insurgents, including an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq member, during raids. Two US soldiers were killed.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Mexico a speeding bus crashed into a tractor-trailer outside the border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing 28 people and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Morocco 2 brothers strapped with explosives blew themselves up near the US consulate. Moroccan officials said they had discovered a broader suicide bombing conspiracy.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Voters went to the polls in Nigeria to choose their state officers in the first of a pair of elections meant to solidify civilian rule. PDP gunmen beat up opponents, snatched ballot boxes and stuffed them with pre-marked ballots. Gunmen killed seven policemen in raids on two police stations in Port Harcourt. Some later judged the polls to be the most rigged in the country’s history.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.56)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.12)
2007 Apr 14, North Korea missed a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear reactor, and a key US negotiator said the country must keep the disarmament program from foundering.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Russian police detained Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and leader of one of Russia's strongest opposition movements, and at least 100 other activists as they gathered for a forbidden anti-Kremlin demonstration in central Moscow.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead five people in eastern Sri Lanka, as the country marked the traditional New Year and the president appealed for national unity.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Sudan unidentified gunmen killed a Ghanaian military officer in the African Union's peacekeeping force in the Darfur region and hijacked his car within yards of the AU mission's headquarters. The dead officer was the ninth peacekeeper slain this month, raising to 18 the number of AU soldiers killed since the mission deployed in 2004.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, Syria distanced itself from comments by a Syrian-American businessman who recently told Israeli lawmakers that President Bashar Assad was ready to make peace with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Flash floods swept over two waterfalls on a southern Thai mountain packed with picnickers and swimmers celebrating the country's New Year, killing at least 35 people and leaving dozens more missing.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, More than 200,000 Turks protested against Turkey's Islamic-rooted PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demonstrating the intense opposition he could face from Turkey's secular establishment if he decides to run for president next month. A bus full of second-graders crashed into a truck in central Turkey, killing at least 32 people, most of them children.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Uganda's government and a rebel group responsible for one of Africa's longest and most brutal wars signed a new truce and agreed to resume stalled peace talks later this month. Joseph Kony, The elusive leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, witnessed the signing in Ri-Kwangba, Sudan.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Airlines canceled over 400 flights in the NYC area as a hard-blowing nor'easter gathered strength along the East Coast. The storm out of the Great Plains was already blamed for 5 deaths.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 15, Researchers reported that cells that are supposed to nourish and support other nerve cells instead secrete the poisons that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Scientists unveiled the world’s tiniest eyedropper, capable of squeezing out zeptoliter droplets.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 15, A fire in Quincy, Illinois, killed 5 children. Police arrested Zachary Meeks (27), a cousin who had a grudge with the victim’s parents stemming from a drug-related prison sentence.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 15, Brant Parker (86), collaborator with Johnny Hart on the “Wizard of Id" (1964) cartoon strip, died in Lynchburg, Va. In 1997 Parker handed the illustration of the cartoon over to his son, Jeff Parker.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 15, Afghanistan's government promised to end all hostage deals with the Taliban after two Afghan kidnap victims were executed in an agreement to free an Italian journalist. In southern Afghanistan a suicide bomber targeted a private US security firm, killing up to four Afghans working for the company and wounding another. In Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents left 15 militants dead and 15 wounded. Police and US-led coalition forces attacked suspected Taliban insurgents crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, killing 10 militants and wounding 15.
(AFP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Authorities in Bangladesh arrested a second son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, as the military-backed interim government stepped up its anti-corruption drive. Arafat Rahman (36) was released the next day.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Belgium 2 men hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in a prison courtyard, where they picked up an inmate in a dramatic jailbreak. RTL-TVI identified the fugitive as a Frenchman who was in pretrial detention on charges of fraud and theft.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Blind British aviator Miles Hilton-Barber, With the aid of co-copilot Richard Meredith-Hardy, landed his microlight aircraft in Jakarta to complete another leg of his London-Sydney charity flight.
(AFP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Ecuadoreans voted on whether to create a special assembly to rewrite their constitution. Exit polls said voters overwhelmingly supported Pres. Correa's plan to remake the nation's system of government and weaken its discredited Congress.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Iran said it is seeking bids for the building of two more nuclear power plants, despite international pressures to curb its controversial program.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Four bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite sections of Baghdad, killing at least 37 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage. Many women and children were among the casualties. North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members. The number of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply to 30. The number of detainees held in US-run facilities in Iraq reached 18,000, with an average stay of one year.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Israeli and Palestinian leaders discussed the outlines of Palestinian statehood for the first time in six years, taking a modest step toward breaking the long paralysis in peacemaking.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, A 14-year-old matador who left Spain to escape his home country's ban on young bullfighters was nearly gored to death in a Mexican City ring, his lung punctured by a 900-pound bull.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Nigeria's mass daily newspapers reported that dozens of people died during state elections, as results began to emerge from state elections that were marred by rigging and violence.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Pakistan some 100,000 people rallied in Karachi against a radical Islamic mosque and seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in Islamabad last week.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Three explosions hit Gaza City, damaging two Internet cafes and a Christian bookstore. Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret "vice squad" of Muslim militants.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Philippine marines killed at least 8 Muslim rebels and captured two of their camps in retaliation for a series of attacks that killed a child and two soldiers.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Russia launched its first new generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union, as the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike force. Russia began construction of its first floating nuclear power plant, and planned to build at least six more despite long-standing environmental concerns that they are vulnerable to accidents at sea. In St. Petersburg, Russia, club-swinging riot police clashed with opposition supporters as an anti-Kremlin protest dispersed. Police chased small groups of demonstrators, beating some on the ground and hauling them into police buses.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Russia a keel-laying ceremony was held in Severodvinsk, on the White Sea, for the new 460-foot Mikhail Lomonosov, a $360 million demonstration ship capable of providing 76-megawatts of nuclear power to an onshore location. Completion was expected in 2010 with construction of new ships to start annually.
(WSJ, 8/21/07, p.A13)
2007 Apr 15, The official Saudi news agency reported that Sudan has signed a joint agreement with the UN and the African Union that defines their respective roles in Darfur.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Carrie Underwood's dark hit "Before He Cheats" won video of the year, female video and best video director at the fan-voted CMT Music Awards.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2007 Apr 16, Shootings in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech left 32 people dead. Two people died in a dorm room, and 31 others were killed in Norris Hall, including the gunman, who put a bullet in his head. At least 15 people were hurt, some seriously. Two professors from India and Israel were among the dead at the Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest in US history. The gunman was a South Korean national named Seung-Hui Cho (23). Cho was an undergraduate student in his senior year majoring in English who lived on campus. His residence was in Centerville, Virginia, and he had resident alien status. Between shootings Seung-Hui took time to e-mail videos, photos and writings to NBC. Virginia law allowed Cho to buy one gun each month. In 2009 Lucinda Roy, head of English at Virginia Tech, authored “No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech."
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/17/07)(WSJ, 4/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.27)(Econ, 4/11/09, p.32)
2007 Apr 16, The board overseeing operations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ruled that taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol face tougher penalties despite protests from Muslim cabbies who sought a compromise for religious reasons.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his 3rd Boston Marathon in 2:14:13. Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva won in 2:29:18.
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 16, A consortium of financial companies agreed to acquire Sallie Mae, America’s leading provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans, for $25 billion. In a recent settlement Sallie Mae agree to adopt a code of conduct and to pay $2 million into a fund to educate students about loans.
(SFC, 4/17/07, p.B1)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.86)
2007 Apr 16, In northern Afghanistan a suicide bomber ran onto a police training field in Kunduz and blew himself up, killing up to 10 policemen and wounding dozens of others.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Hassan Hattab, the founder of the group that claimed responsibility for last week's deadly Algiers bombings, called on militants to put down their weapons under a government amnesty and stop trying to turn Algeria into a "second Iraq." Hattab made the comments in a published letter to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Indians from across Brazil pitched black plastic tents in front of government buildings to demand that officials discuss with them infrastructure projects they claim could have a negative impact on their ancestral lands.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Thousands of BBC staff across Britain held a silent vigil to remember its kidnapped Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston after a Palestinian group said it had killed him. Johnston was snatched at gunpoint on March 12 as he returned to his Gaza City home. Johnston was not killed and was freed on July 4.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Apr 16, Scientists reported that Britain once had around 25 native species of bumblebee, but three of those have been wiped out in the past 50 years and 10 more are now severely threatened.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In southwest China about 450 people, including 135 school students, were hospitalized after a fertilizer plant discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide. A state-run newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 16, A top rebel leader of Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group (ELN) said the group is ready to "immediately" begin talks to reach a cease-fire with the country's government.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Most of Cuba's leading opposition groups issued a joint statement declaring they were united in their struggle for peaceful change toward democracy on the island.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, The staff of an Indian news channel in Mumbai was attacked and its offices ransacked by dozens of Hindu protestors after it broadcast an interview with a runaway couple, a teenage Hindu girl and a young Muslim man. In southern India a passenger train crashed into a minibus carrying local council officials at an unmanned rail crossing, killing 11 people and injuring another 12 in the vehicle.
(AP, 4/16/07)(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In Iran 2 Swedish construction workers, who had been convicted of espionage and imprisoned for taking photographs of military installations, were released after being pardoned.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Six Iraqi cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal. In Mosul a university dean, a professor, a policeman's son and 13 soldiers died near there in attacks that bore the marks of al-Qaida. In Ramadi US forces mistakenly killed three Iraqi police officers during a raid targeting al-Qaida in Iraq members. Thousands of Iraqis upset about poor city services marched peacefully through the streets of Basra, demanding the provincial governor's resignation. Nationwide, at least 51 people were killed or found dead. 3 US soldiers and two Marines were killed. One Marine died in a "non-hostile incident" while on patrol in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Four Iraqi men were blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a Baghdad canal. In 2008 the US Army charged 7 soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, for their role in the alleged retribution killings. In August the Army held Article 32 hearings investigating the involvement of Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham and Sgt. Charles Quigley in the incident. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. In September, 2008, Spc. Belmor Ramos (23), of Clearfield, Utah, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to seven months in prison and given a dishonorable discharge. Spc. Steven Ribordy (25) of Salina, Kansas, pleaded guilty on Oct 1, 2008, to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison. In 2008 Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr. (26) was court-martialed on charges of murder in the killings. Two remaining soldiers said to be involved in the incident, Sgt. John E. Hatley (40) and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo (27) faced charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice. On Feb 20, 2009, Leahy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In March 2009 Sgt. Mayo pleaded guilty to charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. On April 15, 2009, John Hatley was convicted of murder. He was sentenced the next day to life in prison with the possibility of parole. In August the army reduced Hatley’s sentence to 40 years; the sentences against Leahy and Mayo were reduced to 20 years.
(AP, 9/17/08)(AP, 9/18/08)(AP, 10/2/08)(AP, 11/12/08)(AP, 1/13/09)(AP, 2/20/09)(AP, 3/30/09)(AP, 4/16/09)(AP, 8/14/09)
2007 Apr 16, Five young Japanese were found dead inside a sealed van in an apparent group suicide.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A quarter of the 1.5 million women in Mauritania a barren, dune-enveloped country more than twice the size of Texas, are obese, according to the World Health Organization. That's lower than the 40 percent of American women who the WHO says are obese, but surprisingly high in a country that has not a single fast-food franchise. Obesity is popular across much of the Arab world. Nomadic peoples struggling to survive the harsh desert came to prize fatness as a sign of health.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Police found 17 bodies stuffed in cars or dumped on streets in garbage bags across Mexico in the latest wave of violence apparently triggered by warring drug gangs.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nepal's Maoists demanded that the country immediately scrap the monarchy and declare itself a republic amid probable delays in an election over the issue.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nicaraguan police announced the arrest of more than two dozen local members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel but said they were still seeking the group's leader.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nigeria's Supreme Court ruled that the country's electoral commission unlawfully disqualified a top opposition politician once allied with the president from running to replace his former mentor.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A World Bank study said that Palestinian industry is "bound to fail" unless Israel lifts tight restrictions on trade and movement of people and goods in the Palestinian territories. , The Palestinian information minister said China and Switzerland said they will deal with the new Palestinian unity government made up of the moderate Fatah movement and the Islamic militant Hamas group.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Sudan will accept UN attack helicopters in its Darfur region as part of a support package for the African Union force struggling to maintain peace in its vast west. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said the janjaweed militia, accused of widespread atrocities in Darfur, is actively supported by the Sudanese government.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 17, A new survey said US household with a net worth of $5 million, excluding primary home, totaled one million in 2006, up from 250,000 in 1996.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, In Maryland a wall collapsed at the Tri-Star Mining open pit coal mine near Barton. 2 miners were killed.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 17, Kitty Carlisle Hart (b.1910), stage and film singer and actress, died in New York.
(AP, 4/17/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Carlisle_Hart)
2007 Apr 17, US Marine Gen. Peter Pace said US-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons that were being shipped to Taliban fighters. A roadside bomb hit a United Nations vehicle in southern Afghanistan's main city, killing four Nepalese guards and an Afghan driver. An old artillery shell exploded outside a school compound in the western city of Herat, killing four children and wounding five others. Afghan troops searched a compound and discovered 18 rocket propelled grenades and 27 AK-47 weapons. The compound's guard later confessed that he commanded more than 100 Taliban fighters.
(AP, 4/17/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 17, Argentina said will not send former junta leader Jorge Videla to Germany to face charges in the March, 1977, abduction and murder of activist Elisabeth Kaesemann, a German woman, during the Dirty War. Her bullet-riddled body was later found dumped on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Australian officials said that the US and Australia signed an agreement last week to exchange a few hundred refugees held at island detention camps in an effort by both governments to discourage future asylum seekers.
(Reuters, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Brazil shootouts involving drug gangs and police in Rio left at least 20 alleged gang members dead.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, The British pound broke through the $2 mark for the first time in nearly 15 years after new data showed an unexpected surge in inflation, prompting speculation of interest rate increases.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Canada’s Parliament passed a law that will force striking workers at Canadian National Railway to return to the job.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, In China state media said Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of a prominent US-based Chinese Muslim activist, was sentenced in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim Xinjiang region, to nine years in prison on subversion charges. Abdureyim's mother, Rebiya Kadeer, once was one of China's most prominent businesswomen. She was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of endangering state security but was allowed to leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Egypt launched EgyptSat 1, its first remote sounding satellite, from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft was jointly developed by Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Ukraine. Israeli officials suspected it to be a spy satellite. In 2010 ground-controllers lost it.
(http://claudelafleur.qc.ca/Spacecrafts-2007.html)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.50)
2007 Apr 17, Guinea-Bissau's new PM Martinho Ndafa Cabi announced an opposition-dominated government after being chosen to lead the poor west African nation following a political crisis.
(AFP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Malaki said his government was talking with militant groups to try to stop the violence. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a top insurgent leader, boasted that his al-Qaida-linked group was now making its own rockets, posting the claim in an audiotape online. Al-Baghdadi's group posted a Web statement saying its religious court had condemned 20 kidnapped Iraqi soldiers to death. The deputy chief of Mosul police was killed in a drive-by shooting along with two of his guards. In Ramadi police uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards. More than 100 bodies turned up across Iraq.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, Israel's Shin Bet security agency said that it has broken up an Iranian plot to recruit Israelis of Iranian origin as spies, part of what it says is a burgeoning Iranian intelligence operation against the Jewish state. Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian militant near Jenin. Four Israelis were shot and wounded as they were driving near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Naaleh.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Rome a US soldier went on trial in absentia for the shooting death of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at an Iraqi checkpoint in March 2005. However, a court later threw out the proceedings against Spc. Mario Lozano, saying Italy had no jurisdiction.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2007 Apr 17, In Japan the mayor of Nagasaki was shot outside a train station and is in critical condition. Police arrested Tetsuya Shiroo (59), who they said was the head of a local gang affiliated with Japan's largest "yakuza" group, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Mayor Itcho Ito (61) died the next day. The gangster arrested in the shooting had visited city offices more than 30 times seeking compensation for car damage caused by a pothole. In 2008 Shiroo was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.
(AP, 4/17/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 5/26/08)
2007 Apr 17, Nigeria's electoral commission said it would comply with a Supreme Court ruling that the vice president be placed on the ballot for this weekend's presidential elections, as sporadic violence was reported around the country. 18 Nigerian opposition parties threatened to boycott the presidential and legislative elections if the April 14 regional polls were not cancelled. 12 Nigerian police were killed when an unknown armed group stormed their station in the northern city of Kano.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Pakistan executed four brothers convicted of killing 13 of their relatives in a feud over land. A video began circulating showing the grisly death of Ghulam Nabi, a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taliban official who was killed in a December airstrike in Afghanistan. The video showed a boy about 12 hacking off the head of Nabi.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 17, Sri Lankan authorities have issued a death threat against Champika Liyanaarachchi, a newspaper editor for reporting on military excesses and human rights abuses.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, State radio said Zimbabwe has deregistered all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and told them to submit new applications to try to weed out groups it says are trying to oust President Robert Mugabe.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upheld the 2003 nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.
(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.34)
2007 Apr 18, The DJIA rose 30.80 to a record 12,803.84. Nasdaq fell 6.45 to 2,510.
(SFC, 4/19/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 4/19/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 18, US research found that Ethanol-fueled vehicles could contribute to more illnesses and deaths from respiratory disease than gasoline-powered cars and trucks.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, More than 100 journalists protested a police raid ordered by Afghanistan's attorney general on a private TV station that has fueled concern over growing government harassment of the media. Afghan and US-led coalition forces clashed with Taliban fighters and called in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan, leaving 24 suspected militants dead and two coalition soldiers wounded. Three other suspected militants were reported killed in the western provinces. In eastern Afghanistan coalition and Afghan forces arrested five suspected al-Qaida. A US-led coalition convoy hit a boy in Kabul and killed him.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, A catamaran was discovered deserted off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with the sails up, engine running and food on the table. Its crew of 3 was last seen April 15.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 18, Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government exiled opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as it stepped up a massive purge of the crisis-wracked country's political hierarchy.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, The British Foreign Office expressed disappointment and disagreement with a National Union of Journalists vote to call for a boycott on Israeli goods.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, A report said Britain has the worst level of drug abuse in Europe, and the second highest level of drug-related deaths.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda adopted a joint military strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great Lakes region.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, The futuristic No. D460 bullet train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of high-speed rail travel in China. In northeast China at least 32 workers were killed and two injured when they were engulfed in white-hot molten steel in a metal factory.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.70)
2007 Apr 18, In Colombia thousands of people were evacuated after a long-dormant volcano erupted, provoking avalanches and floods that swept away houses and bridges. The Nevado del Huila volcano's eruptions were its first on record since Colombia was colonized by the Spanish 500 years ago.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, At least 16 Egyptian secondary school students were killed on their way to school when a truck they were riding in collided head-on with another vehicle south of Cairo.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Ultrasound machines in India, primarily sold by GE, were reported to be linked to a declining sex ratio, even though laws forbade doctors from disclosing the sex of fetuses. Female fetuses were widely aborted due to high dowry costs.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 18, Iraq’s Pres. Maliki declared that Iraqi forces would take over security of the entire country by the end of this year. A few hours later a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing some 140 people and wounding 148 including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead. A suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City killing at least 30 people, including five Iraqi security officers. A parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13. A fourth explosion from a bomb left on a minibus in the northwestern Risafi area, killed four people and wounded six others. 4 policemen were killed when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center. US troops killed five suspected insurgents and captured 30 others in a raid in Anbar province. A suspected insurgent was killed and eight captured in two raids north of Baghdad. More than 230 people died in one of the war's deadliest episodes of violence. Britain turned Maysan province over to Iraqi rule.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A10)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.54)
2007 Apr 18, Mexican police and soldiers battled gunmen at a hospital in Tijuana in violence that left at least three people dead before the authorities subdued the attackers. Authorities said next day that the gunmen were hit men for the city's Arellano Felix drug cartel.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, Scientists in the Netherlands said they have discovered a fungus in elephant dung that will help them break down fibers and wood into biofuel.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Nigeria's government rejected an opposition call to postpone the presidential election following widespread abuses in state polls last weekend. Nigerian soldiers killed at least 25 Islamic militants, in the second day of violent clashes in Kano.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Russian police raided Educated Media Foundation, an independent Russian organization. Police said the search was linked to a criminal case launched against the director after she failed to declare some $12,500 in cash she brought into the country on January 21. Foundation President Manana Aslamazyan said this was likely linked to growing government pressure on Western-funded NGOs. Aslamazyan fled to Paris and authorities shuttered the foundation.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/24/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 18, In Somalia overnight street battles in Mogadishu left at least 11 people dead and dozens others injured.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, In central Turkey assailants in Malatya tied up three people at a publishing house that distributes Bibles and then slit their throats. Tilmann Geske (46), a German missionary, and two Turkish Christians were killed. Five young men were detained and charged with murder; they allegedly said they killed to protect Islam.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 18, The UN Security Council expressed "serious concern" at mounting reports of weapons being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon and authorized an independent mission to evaluate monitoring of the border between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 19, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a bleak assessment of Iraq, saying the war was "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, One-time CEO Joe Nacchio was found guilty of illegally selling $52 million in stock amid an accounting scandal that nearly sank Qwest Communications. The jury acquitted Nacchio of all 23 insider trading counts involving sales before April 2001 but convicted him on 19 counts tied to sales of 1.33 million shares for $52 million in gross proceeds from April 26 to May 29, 2001.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Luis Posada Carriles (79), an anti-Castro exile wanted in Cuba for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, was freed from a New Mexico jail after he posted $250,000 bond and his family put up another $100,000. He must wear an electronic monitoring device while under house arrest at his wife's home in Miami pending his May 11 trial on immigration fraud charges. Posada's immigration case was later thrown out by a federal judge, but the government appealed.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, A Brooklyn jury convicted Gerald Garson, a former matrimonial court judge, of taking bribes. His arrest in 2003 prompted investigations into judicial corruption.
(www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/20/judge.cigar.ap/index.html)
2007 Apr 19, A jury in Selmer, Tenn., convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her preacher-husband, Matthew. Winkler spent seven months in custody, with two months served in a mental facility.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, The DJIA rose 4.79 to a record 12,808.63. Nasdaq fell 5.15 to 2,505.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 19, Helen Robson Walton (b.1919), widow of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, died in Bentonville, Ark. She had pushed for a profit-sharing plan for employees in the Wal-Mart’s early days and demanded that the family live in a small, rural town.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 19, British aerospace engine maker Rolls-Royce said that it will withdraw from Sudan, citing "increasing international humanitarian concerns" in the violence-scarred region of Darfur.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, China jailed Huseyin Celil (37), a Uighur-Canadian, for life for separatism and terrorism and warned Canada not to get involved even as Ottawa announced it would send its foreign minister to discuss the case. Celil was detained in Uzbekistan in March 2006 when he was visiting relatives and sent to China last June.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Cuba the Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the Apr 13 arrest and sentencing of Oscar Sanchez Madan (44), an independent Cuban journalist, who wrote critical articles about dissident groups and the hardships of island life.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, European Union members agreed to new rules to combat racism and hate crimes across the 27-nation bloc, including setting jail sentences against those who deny or trivialize the Holocaust.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Former Rwandan army major Bernard Ntuyahaga went on trial in Brussels, charged with the murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and the Rwandan prime minister in 1994.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Iranian engineers began filling a new dam as archaeologists warned that its reservoir will flood newly discovered antiquities and could damage Iran's grandest site, the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sunni insurgent coalition posted Web videos naming the head of al-Qaida in Iraq as "minister of war" and showing the execution of 20 men it said were members of the Iraqi military and security forces. A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence, killing at least 12 people and wounded 34 in a mostly Shiite district. A US Marine in a rocket attack on a base south of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Israeli Knesset speaker Dalia Yitzik arrived in Jordan, the second Israeli official to visit the Arab kingdom this week for talks on ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Kyrgyzstan police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of opposition protesters who had marched to the president's office in Bishkek to demand his resignation.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi took over from a military junta as Mauritania's civilian head of state.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, North and South Korea formally opened economic aid talks, after a delay caused by Pyongyang's insistence that Seoul pledge food assistance to the impoverished nation despite its failure to live up to a pact on nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Chanting "down with Talibanization," hundreds of human rights activists marched through Pakistani cities, urging the government to rein in clerics who have launched an anti-vice campaign in the capital.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, The heads of seven men who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists on a volatile southern island were delivered to a Philippine army detachment. The men, six road project workers and a dried-fish factory worker, were kidnapped at gunpoint in two separate incidents April 16 near the town of Parang. A group of civilians was ordered to take the heads to Parang by Muslim rebel commander Habier Malik.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Romania's parliament voted to suspend the popular president who ushered in economic and social reforms to help the country join the European Union, accusing him of abusing his constitutional powers. President Traian Basescu had earlier vowed to resign "within five minutes" if lawmakers voted to suspend him. His resignation would prompt a new election within three months, and he has said he would run again for office. Former president Nicolae Vacaroiu (1992-1996) became acting president.
(AP, 4/19/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.61)
2007 Apr 19, Rwanda filed a case against France at the UN's highest court in The Hague over a French request that President Paul Kagame be tried by the Rwanda war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Somalia fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents left at least 12 people dead in Mogadishu, while a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sudanese rebel group said government aircraft destroyed a village in northern Darfur in an air strike.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Venezuela launched a Zeppelin to patrol Caracas, seeking to fight crime in one of Latin America's most dangerous cities but also raising fears that President Hugo Chavez could be turning into Big Brother.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Zimbabwe 82 members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise group were arrested in Bulawayo during a protest against power outages. 18 of the women were stripped and jailed for hours.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A10)
2007 Apr 20, Vermont senators voted to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In NYC 13 people were indicted on charges stemming from their roles in a credit card fraud. Waiters in about 40 restaurants, in New York and as well eateries in Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut, had quietly recorded customers' credit card information and passed it on to people who used the information to make more than $3 million worth of worth of illegal purchases. The conspirators had operated from November 2005 until this week.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, The American Economic Association announced that Susan Athey (36), professor at Harvard, had won the John Bates Clark medal. This prestigious honor was awarded every 2 years to the nation’s most promising economist under age 40.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 20, The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who shot and killed 32 people and himself, said they felt ‘‘hopeless, helpless and lost,’’ and ‘‘never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.’’
(AP, 4/20/08)
2007 Apr 20, Andrew Hill (b.1931), jazz pianist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 20, William Phillips, a NASA contract worker, shot and killed David Beverly, a NASA civil servant, and then killed himself at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 20, A purported Taliban statement demanded the release of a number of the group's fighters and the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the freedom of two kidnapped French aid workers. In southern Afghanistan separate explosions killed two NATO soldiers. A Dutch soldier was killed in one explosion, the first fatality from hostile action among Dutch troops serving with NATO forces in the country.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bolivia’s military retook control of a natural gas pipeline to Argentina after days of violent protests at gas installations in southern Bolivia. More than 1,000 protesters had seized the Yacuiba pipeline station run by Transredes, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. The disturbances killed at least one person and wounded dozens more.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Eight workers went missing after a fire swept through a fish-processing ship off southern Chile, killing one person. 116 members of the Hercules' crew were rescued.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bishop Fu Tieshan (76), the hard-line chairman of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church, died. He sparred had with the Vatican over China's insistence on appointing its own bishops. An upsurge of gas in a coal mine killed 11 miners in the Tao'er Coal Mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 20, Final results from a nationwide referendum showed an overwhelming majority of Ecuadoreans supported President Rafael Correa's push for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung arrived in South Korea to discuss the proposed sale of second-hand Patriot missiles and other military issues.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, It was reported that German researchers had discovered a natural anti-HIV factor. The 20 amino acid peptide chain blocked multiple strains of HIV.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 20, AIDA, Germany’s largest cruise line, christened the new 2,050 passenger AIDAdiva in the Hamburg harbor.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 20, Thousands of mine workers in Indonesia's remote Papua province protested for a third day as marathon talks with US firm Freeport McMoRan over pay and benefits showed signs of progress.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, Clashes erupted between gunmen and US and Iraqi forces around a Shiite mosque in western Baghdad before Friday prayers, and two suspected insurgents were killed. US forces killed eight suspected insurgents and captured 41 in several raids across Iraq. A roadside bombing in Diwaniyah killed a Polish soldier.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Libya's National Oil Corporation and US firm Dow Chemical announced a joint venture to operate and expand the Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex in Libya.
(AFP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Nigeria the opposition said that troops have intercepted a truck-load of already completed ballots a day before the presidential election, heightening fears the vote will be rigged. A Nigerian navy helicopter crashed in the country's south, killing its three crew members. 7 policemen on election duty were ambushed and shot dead near Karu town in central Nassarawa State.
(Reuters, 4/20/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, North Korea restated its commitment to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal, saying it would invite UN atomic inspectors and discuss shutting down its bomb-making atomic reactor as soon as it confirmed the release of its funds frozen in a banking dispute.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Paraguay Japanese businessman Hirokazu Ota, the leader of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in Paraguay, was freed following a 19-day abduction and a 140,000-dollar ransom payment.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Somalia a local human rights group said 3 days of fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government has killed at least 113 civilians.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Sri Lanka’s northern district of Vavuniya troops on foot patrol fired at suspected Tamil Tigers killing four rebels. A landmine explosion in the northeastern district of Polonnaruwa killed two soldiers and wounded two others.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, A Vatican committee issued a report concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven and not be stuck in Limbo, which “reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 21, A US Navy Blue Angel jet went down during an air show in South Carolina, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Police in Las Vegas raided illegal brothels as part of “Operation Dollhouse," a sting aimed at prostitution and human trafficking with suspected links to Asia. Prostitution is legal in most counties of Nevada, but not in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 21, Reid Stowe (55) and his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad (23), set off from Hoboken, NJ, on a sailing voyage planned to last 1,000 days and nights with no port calls for supplies. Ahmad abandoned the cruise in February 2008, citing seasickness.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/21/08)
2007 Apr 21, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (b.1938), a 7-term congressman from Southern California, died of cancer.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 21, Taliban insurgents vowed a new round of attacks against Afghan and foreign troops in the war-torn country, promising to focus more attention on the relatively-peaceful north. Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol in eastern Afghanistan in a clash that left five militants and one police officer dead. NATO-led troops shot and killed a suspected militant and wounded another in the south. In Nangarhar province US and Afghan troops killed one person and detained nine others during a raid on a compound.
(AFP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, An earthquake in remote southern Chile shook free a landslide of rocks, sending them smashing into a narrow fjord and causing massive 25-foot waves that swept away 10 beachgoers. Three bodies were recovered the next day.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Cairo an Egyptian-Canadian man was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison by a special security court.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki arrived in Sudan determined to kick-start talks to end the violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Iran signed a major gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy group OMV.
(Reuters, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A wall US troops are building around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad came under increasing criticism, with residents calling it "collective punishment" and a local leader saying construction began without the neighborhood council's approval. A bomb left on a bus exploded in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, killing at least three people. A roadside bomb killed the mayor of Musayyib. 2 bullet-riddled dead bodies were discovered in Musayyib. Gunmen stormed a house in Kirkuk killing a mother, father and their two teenage daughters. One American soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb southwest of Baghdad. Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili, the chairman of Fallujah's city council, an outspoken critic of al-Qaida who took the job in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold after his three predecessors were assassinated, was killed in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in clashes in the West Bank, including three militants who died when troops opened fire at their vehicle. A Palestinian policeman was killed when he climbed on the roof of his home during an Israeli arrest operation in the village of Kafr Dan. Palestinian officials said a 17-year-old girl, identified as Bushra Wahash, was shot by Israeli gunfire as she peered out the window of her home in the Jenin refugee camp. Palestinian militants in Gaza fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel. One of the rockets scored a direct hit on a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing no injuries. Minutes later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a Palestinian car near the rocket launch site. A 37-year-old man in the car was killed and a second occupant was wounded.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Indian-held Kashmir police found the bodies of 2 Hindus with their throats slit, as hundreds protested the killing of a Muslim woman.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Charles Simonyi, an American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to outer space, returned to Earth in a space capsule that also carried a cosmonaut and an American astronaut, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Mexico a Durango state police commander was kidnapped and killed and two other officers were shot dead in a gun battle with his abductors.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, A truck bomb aimed at Nigeria's electoral commission headquarters ran into barriers and failed to explode. Polls opened despite the attack for a presidential vote already shadowed by charges of fraud and a last-minute ballot hitch. Voting in Nigeria's parliamentary elections was suspended in most of central Lagos, the economic capital, because of errors on the ballot papers.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Somalia heavy fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government left at least 52 civilians dead in Mogadishu.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Sri Lanka suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a landmine targeting troops on patrol in Batticaloa. A civilian was killed and three others injured.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Venezuelans marched amid heavy security in the opposition's largest show of support yet for a television station targeted by President Hugo Chavez, whom they accuse of suppressing freedom of speech and democratic rights.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A Zimbabwe cabinet minister said the Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a 58 million dollars financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were announced on Earth Day. The winners included Julio Cusurichi of Peru for his work to fight illegal logging; Willie Corduff of Ireland for his work to halt an energy project that disregarded local and environmental concerns; Sophia Rabliauskas of Canada for her work to help protect the boreal forest in Manitoba; Orri Vigfussen of Iceland for his work on the North Atlantic Salmon Fund; Ts. Munkhbayar for his work against unregulated mining in Mongolia; and Hammerskjoeld Simwinga for his work in organizing microloan programs in Zambia.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.E1)
2007 Apr 22, In eastern Afghanistan 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in Khost, killing 11 civilians and wounding over 40 others. In Paktia province, a mob of Taliban fighters ambushed a police patrol, kicking off a three-hour battle that left 5 Taliban dead. Assailants in Laghman province bombed an intelligence service vehicle in an attack that killed two intelligence service officers, a soldier and a driver in the provincial capital of Mehtar Lam. In Ghazni province assailants abducted and beheaded an Afghan intelligence service employee.
(AFP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as a plane arrived to take her arch rival, the country's last prime minister Khaleda Zia, into exile in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Bosnia a fast-moving fire tore through an orphanage in Sarajevo, killing five babies and injuring 17 others.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Zhou Chunxiu made history as the first Chinese runner to win the London marathon as she came home in 2hrs 20min 38sec, finishing ahead of Ethiopia's Gete Wami and Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, a veteran dissident leader who wrote a book about Cuban prison conditions while behind bars, was freed after serving his entire 17-year sentence.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 22, French voters turned out in force to choose a new president in one of the country's most suspense-filled elections in recent times. In the first round conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival Segolene Royal received enough votes to advance to a runoff, which Sarkozy won.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/08)
2007 Apr 22, In India’s Uttar Pradesh state a small political party pushed for the reinstatement of the legal rights of people wrongly declared dead by unscrupulous relatives trying to steal their assets. The Indian Express reported that 8 tigers were missing from the Ranthambore National Park in western India, raising new concerns about the country's dwindling big cat population.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, PM Nouri al-Maliki, on a tour to ask the mostly Sunni-led governments of the Arab world to help his struggling government stop the violence in Iraq, received a strong endorsement from Egypt. Two suicide car bombers attacked a police station in Baiyaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of western Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and turning nearby buildings into piles of rubble. A former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was gunned down near his house in Fallujah. In Suwayrah three bodies were found floating in the Tigris River, blindfolded with the hands bound, and gunshots in the head and chest. The bodies of three brothers abducted six days ago in Mosul were also discovered. In Basra a suspect accused of attacks on British and Iraqi troops in the area was killed in a raid. Two of the man's brothers were arrested. Gunmen in northern Iraq stopped a bus filled with Christians and members of the tiny, mostly Kurdish, Yazidi religious sect, separating out the groups. 21 of the Yazidi passengers were killed. In Mahmoudiya US and Iraqi forces detained eight suspected insurgents and confiscated three caches of weapons during a raid on an apartment complex, including mortars, rockets and ammunition. The weapons appeared to be new and were stamped with recent dates and Iranian markings.
(AP, 4/22/07)(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 22, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants, including a top bombmaker, during an arrest raid. The Islamic militant group Hamas called for new attacks on Israel after eight Palestinians were killed in a surge of fighting over the weekend.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22-2007 Apr 23, In Italy Marco Ahmetovic (22) killed the four teenage boys after driving his van onto a pavement while under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced to 6-1/2 years detention, but was allowed to spend most of that time under house arrest in return for cooperating with the court.
(Reuters, 11/29/07)
2007 Apr 22, Japan went to the polls in two upper-house by-elections and a chain of local elections that could further weaken the leadership of embattled PM Shinzo Abe.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Marcos Leyes Perez, the son of the US consul in southern Oaxaca state, was stabbed during an apparent mugging.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, The two main opposition parties denounced the conduct of Nigeria's presidential elections. An influential, homegrown observer group called for a cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule in Africa's top oil producer.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Trustees said a fund to compensate Puerto Rico for damages from a 1994 oil spill will be used to build an artificial reef, create a shoreline nature reserve and restore the walls of a Spanish colonial fort.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Mogadishu, Somalia, the two main hospitals said they admitted 26 civilians wounded as fighting eased.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, South Korea agreed to send 400,000 tons of rice to impoverished North Korea despite the communist government's failure to meet a deadline to shut down its nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Congressional Democratic leaders agreed on legislation requiring the first US combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later; President Bush pledged to veto such a measure.
(AP, 4/23/08)
2007 Apr 23, New projections said US Medicare trust funds will run out in 2019 and Social Security in 2041, each a year longer than said by earlier projections.
(WSJ, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, A US Agriculture Department official said a virus in the Great Lakes, that has killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years, is spreading and poses a threat to inland fish farming.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, A Chicago man who spent 25 years in jail for a rape he didn't commit was fully exonerated on the basis of new DNA evidence, bringing to 200 the number of such cases overturned since the 1980s. Jerry Miller (48) was paroled from jail in March 2006 after serving more than half of his 45 year sentence.
(AFP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Paul Erdman (74), world-class economist and banker, died in Sonoma County, Ca. He used his knowledge of economics and politics to write best-selling novels that included “The Billion Dollar Sure Thing" (1973) and “The Crash of ‘79" (1976).
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 23, David Halberstam (73), Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer, died in a car crash in San Mateo, Ca. His books included “The Best and the Brightest" (1972) and “The Powers That Be" (1979). He had just finished his 21st book “The Coldest Winter," a history of the Korean War, which was published later this year.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.108)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, Michael Smuin (68), choreographer, died in SF of a heart attack.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, In Afghanistan assailants in Laghman province struck an intelligence service vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb, killing six employees and wounding three. In Zabul province, a roadside bomb hit police as they were patrolling in Shamulzayi district, killing two policemen and wounding five others.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, British bank Barclays Plc agreed to buy Dutch rival ABN AMRO for about 67 billion euros ($91 billion) in shares as it attempts to fight off rivals to clinch the world's biggest bank takeover.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Chinese, state television reported that President Hu Jintao has launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, China’s The Ministry of Land and Resources said agricultural land in China fell to 121.8 million hectares (300 million acres) by the end of October 2006, a loss of 306,800 hectares since the start of the year. The ministry said that heavy metals had contaminated about 13 million tons of grain and that 30.4 million acres is contaminated by pollution.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 23, Ecuador's highest court reinstated 51 lawmakers ousted last month for allegedly interfering with a referendum on the South American nation's need for a new constitution, the 19th over the last 180 years.
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.30)
2007 Apr 23, In France Sarkozy and Royal advanced to the second round of France's presidential election, With nearly all votes counted, Sarkozy had 31.1%, followed by Royal with 25.8% and Bayrou with 18.5%. Turnout was 84.6 percent, the highest in more than 40 years and just shy of the record set in 1965.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Indian police discovered a human "bones factory" in West Bengal state and arrested six people for illegally trading in skeletons. Authorities in northeastern Assam state launched a crackdown on rhinoceros poachers, rushing in armed paramilitary soldiers to a sprawling game reserve.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, The American ambassador said the US would "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad. A suicide attacker detonated his car in front of an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani. At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf. A suicide car bomb struck a restaurant near Ramadi killing at least 19 people and wounding 35. A suicide car bomber also struck a police station in Baqouba killing at least 10 people and wounding 23. In central Baghdad, a bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in an Iraqi restaurant in the mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhood of Karradah Mariam, killing at least seven people and wounding 16. Nearby a parked car bomb exploded in a parking lot, killing one civilian and wounding another. 9 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base in Diyala province. An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web statement the next day claiming responsibility for a suicide truck bombing. A US soldier was also killed in a roadside bombing in Diyala.
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, Eleazar Medina Rojas, described as a key member of the powerful Gulf drug cartel, was arrested in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, along with his father, four other cartel members and four women. Authorities reported the killing of Jorge Gonzalez, police chief of Cardenas, in the southern Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Mexican police found the body of Saul Noe Martinez Ortega (36), a newspaper editor abducted last week in the border city of Agua Prieta. He had been dead at least six days and was found in neighboring Chihuahua state.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria's ruling party was declared winner of a presidential poll rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a "charade."
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Northern Ireland Brendan Cranston (42), was shot through both legs and beaten, while his 38-year-old partner, Linda Doherty, also was assaulted. A brother-in-law of Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein deputy leader supposed to oversee a new power-sharing government for Northern Ireland, was charged on April 26 with kidnapping and assaulting the couple in an IRA-style operation.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 23, Philippine police said they have identified a local woodcarver as a suspect in the April 8 killing of Julia Campbell, a US Peace Corps volunteer, and are following up leads on a possible accomplice. They named the suspect as Juan Duntugan (25) from the village of Batad in Banaue township. Duntugan gave himself up April 27 and confessed on television, saying he would accept "whatever punishment you will impose on me."
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 23, Boris Yeltsin (b.1931), former Russian leader (1991-1999), died. He engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy. His 1994 memoir was titled "The Struggle for Russia."
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, The WWF said hunters in Russia's Far East have shot and killed one of the last seven surviving female Amur leopards living in the wild.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Somalia masked Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government forces pounded each other with machine-gun fire, mortars and heavy artillery in Mogadishu, bringing the death toll from six days of fighting to at least 250.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A bomb ripped through a long-distance bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least three passengers and wounding 35 in the third bombing of a civilian bus this month.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A top Sudanese government official offered a two-month halt in military operations in strife-torn Darfur to allow for rebel groups to join the peace process.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Syrians voted for a second day in a tightly controlled election to pick a new legislature, a vote President Bashar Assad hopes can consolidate his rule, soften his regime's authoritarian image and ease its international isolation.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, In a harsh exchange, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home, a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush's "attack dog" lashing out.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2007 Apr 24, The US military formally charged Omar Khadr (20), a young Canadian prisoner, with murder and other crimes, clearing the way for his trial before the war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. Khadr was captured during a gunfight at an alleged al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan when he was 15 and sent to Guantanamo shortly after turning 16. Khadr's family was close to Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was an alleged al Qaeda financier killed in a battle with Pakistani soldiers in 2003. His family had lived in Pakistan but returned to Canada after the elder Khadr's death.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, US FDA advisers endorsed a Pfizer AIDS drug that fights HIV by blocking one of two cell receptors that are infection routes.
(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, A consortium led by US private equity group KKR was left unchallenged in its quest to take over Alliance Boots, after a rival British bidder withdrew its bid for Europe's biggest pharmacy chain.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, The video game “Lord of the Rings Online," developed by Turbine Inc., was released for the Microsoft Windows platform. It initially cost players $40 plus a subscription for each month played.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.7)
2007 Apr 24, A tornado in the Texas border town of Eagle Pass killed at least 10 people and destroyed two schools and more than 20 homes. The storm killed 2 more people in Arkansas and Louisiana.
(AP, 4/25/07)(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 24, European astronomers announced they had found a potentially habitable planet outside the solar system. They said the planet had Earth-like temperatures, a find described as a big step in the search for "life in the universe." The planet, named 581c, circled the red dwarf star, Gliese 581, relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away.
(AP, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.93)
2007 Apr 24, Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. reported that it outsold General Motors Corp. by around 90,000 vehicles in the first quarter, moving a step closer to unseating its US rival as the world's biggest automaker. Aside from a few strike-related blips GM had been the top US car seller since 1931.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.76)
2007 Apr 24, Warren E. Avis (b.1915), founder of the Avis Rent-A-Car System (1946), died in Ann Arbor, Mich.
(WSJ, 4/28/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Afghan and international forces clashed overnight with Taliban insurgents in two separate gun battles in the south and west, leaving 13 militants dead and four other people wounded. Five more “enemy elements" were killed in the northeastern province of Kunar in an operation by troops from the Afghan security forces and US-led coalition. Militants ambushed a police car in the west, killing four officers, in the Guzara district in Herat province. Fighting in Ghazni province left three construction company guards and seven Taliban dead.
(AFP, 4/24/07)(AFP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, British anti-terrorist police arrested six people who were suspected of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and raising funds for terrorism.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Ecuador's popular President Rafael Correa tightened his hold over all branches of government, sending police to prevent the return of opposition lawmakers as his tentative majority in Congress dismissed all nine members of the nation's highest court.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Baghdad two bombs went off outside the Iranian Embassy for the second consecutive day. Six civilians were injured. In Diyala province gunmen disguised as Iraqi soldiers killed six Iraqis and burned five homes. South of Baghdad a family of seven was shot to death in their beds at dawn by masked gunmen. The Shaibah logistics base, once the main center of British military operations in Iraq, was turned over to the Iraqi national army on for use as a training base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, China's secretive communist government said it has approved rules boosting official transparency but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and social stability preserved. Eight miners were missing and feared dead following an explosion in a mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 24, In Indonesia Richard Ness an American director of Newmont Mining Corp., the world's largest gold producer, was acquitted of charges the company dumped dangerous amounts of toxic waste into a bay off Sulawesi Island.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, The armed wing of Hamas fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza toward Israel on its independence day, and said they considered it the end of a five-month truce with Israel.
(AP, 4/24/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, Joji Obara (54), a Tokyo businessman, was sentenced to life in prison for a wave of brutal assaults on women, but was cleared over the 2000 abduction and killing of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
(AFP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, a landmark decision likely to heighten church-state tensions in the Roman Catholic nation and lead to a bitter court battle.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, The Nigerian government accused Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos, of operating foreign accounts contrary to his oath of office.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Spain, part of a four-nation tour of Europe, for talks expected to focus on Islamic radicalism and NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, At a conference in Moscow titled “Megaprojects of Russia’s East," supporters proposed a 68-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait. The tunnel linking Alaska and Siberia would cost $65 billion and take some 20 years to build.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Rwandan media said that a former Belgian army officer in the UN mission to Rwanda (Minuar) has accused French soldiers of training extremist Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Somalia artillery shells and mortars rained down on Mogadishu in a seventh straight day of raging battles that have left nearly 250 dead.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Tamil rebel planes bombed government positions in northern Sri Lanka in their second-ever airstrike. The military said six soldiers were killed but that the aircraft were turned back before reaching a key base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, A Syrian court convicted prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni of disseminating hostile information and sentenced him to five years in jail.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul was named as the ruling party's candidate for the presidency, a decision that will maintain continuity in EU reforms but fails to resolve a fight between the country's secular and Islamist camps.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Yanis Chimaras (51), a Venezuelan soap opera actor, was stabbed to death when he came upon a robbery in a Caracas suburb. The Justice Ministry reported 9,402 homicides nationwide in 2005.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Brushing off a presidential veto threat, the House passed, 218-208, a $124.2 billion supplemental spending bill ordering US troops to begin coming home from Iraq in the fall of 2007.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, US federal authorities arrested John P. Tomkins (42) of Dubuque, Iowa, a man suspected of mailing dud pipe bombs to financial companies in Chicago and Kansas City, Mo., and threatening letters that were signed "The Bishop."
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Rosie O'Donnell announced she was leaving the ABC talk show "The View" in June.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, The DJIA closed above 13,000 for the first time rising 135.95 to a record 13,089.89. Nasdaq rose 23.35 to 2,547.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 25, Negotiators reached a tentative settlement in the 10-day school strike in Hayward, Ca.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 25, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said he found genes of the single-celled, spore producing parasite Nosema ceranae in dead bees. Researchers in Spain had recently shown that the parasite is capable of wiping out a beehive.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 25, In eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb attack on an Afghan military convoy left seven soldiers dead. A suicide attacker blew himself up close to the vehicle of a district governor of Paktika. Militants ambushed a police vehicle in the western province of Herat overnight and killed three policemen. Afghan police and US special troops clashed with foreign militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least five militants.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Argentina a federal court threw out amnesties for former military President Jorge Videla (81) and Navy chief Eduardo Massera, two leaders of the former military dictatorship, saying they must serve their life terms in prison for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, A top US diplomat warned of new sanctions against Belarus if authorities refuse to release what he said were political prisoners, and dropping charges against others.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch lender and Santander of Spain launched a blockbuster 72-billion-euro takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, outgunning by far an agreed offer by Barclays.
(AFP, 4/25/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.85)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.84)
2007 Apr 25, In Indonesia the MT Maulana, an oil tanker that had just unloaded its cargo, exploded on a Sumatran river, killing four crew members.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, A UN report was released that said that violence in Baghdad remains at high levels. The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq singled out Kurdistan in its 10th human rights report on Iraq, expressing concern over infringements on freedom of expression by the regional government. A suicide bomber wearing a hidden belt of explosives attacked a police station in Iraq's volatile province of Diyala, killing at least four policeman. Roadside bombs, mortar rounds and drive-by shootings also killed 10 Iraqis and wounded 23 in the Baghdad area and the cities of Kirkuk, Mosul and Fallujah.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert authorized the army to carry out limited operations against militants in the Gaza Strip, but ruled out a large-scale ground offensive in response to a new round of Hamas rocket attacks.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Japan adopted stricter gun control guidelines following a spate of gangster shootings that rattled a nation renowned for its crime-free streets.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Barbara Blida (57), a former Polish government minister, committed suicide in her bathroom as police searched her house in connection with corruption allegations. Blida, a lawmaker for the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance from 1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, was suspected of taking and receiving material gains. The raid was part of an investigation into corruption allegations against 14 people.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Somalia civilians were caught in the crossfire as the government's Ethiopian backers used tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds. Human rights groups said more than 350 people have been killed in the last eight days, the majority civilians.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, The UN food agency said Sudanese authorities were holding up to 100,000 tons of sorghum meant for Darfur, alleging that it is genetically modified. Laboratory tests had shown it was not genetically modified.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko pushed back the date of snap parliamentary elections until June 24. The move was seen as a conciliatory gesture as the Constitutional Court began deliberations on the legality of his decree dissolving parliament.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Venezuela officials from Chevron, BP PLC, France’s Total SA and Norway’s Statoil ASA signed memorandums of agreement to give state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA a majority stake in 3 projects. ConocoPhillips resisted giving up control of 2 projects.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D3)
2007 Apr 26, The Senate joined the House in clearing legislation calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. President Bush vetoed the measure.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, Authorities said 2 detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, an Afghan and a Moroccan, have been transferred to the custody of their native countries.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Orangeburg, S.C., 8 Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered for their first debate of the 2008 campaign.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, California lawmakers approved a $7.4 billion prison construction proposal. This was called the biggest prison expansion plan in American history.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 26, The DJIA rose 15.61 to a record 13,105.50. Nasdaq rose 6.57 to 2,554.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 26, Alfredo Figueroa (40), owner of the Red Onion hamburger restaurant in El Cerrito, was shot and killed during a robbery.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 26, Jack Valenti (b.1921), 38-year president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), died. His autobiography “This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood," was published posthumously.
(WSJ, 6/22/07, p.W6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Valenti)
2007 Apr 26, More than 100 suspected Taliban attacked Giro, setting fire to buildings and cutting telephone lines. The district mayor, police chief and three policemen were killed during several hours of fighting. It was estimated that about 10 of the militants also died.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Six central African countries (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon and Congo) plan to launch a common passport in July, permitting the free movement of goods and people across their borders.
(AFP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Bangladesh's emergency government backtracked on plans to exile two feuding former prime ministers but appeared to threaten the women with corruption charges if they stayed in the country.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Britain widened an investigation into the collection of human body parts for scientific tests at nuclear plants. Unions representing nuclear industry workers said as many as 70 people who worked at the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in northern England and other nuclear facilities may have had bones, organs or other tissue removed for tests.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Canada promised curbs on air pollution and a new approach to greenhouse gas emissions in a plan the government says will slow, then reverse the rise in output of pollutants blamed for global warming.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, China said it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Colombia's electrical grid collapsed, causing a nationwide blackout that briefly halted stock trading, trapped people in elevators and left authorities struggling to determine the cause.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa went deep into the Amazon jungle to show his disdain for Chevron Corp., which is on trial here for allegedly failing to clean up billions of gallons of toxic wastewater. He is the nation’s first president to support the estimated 30,000 settlers and Amazon Indians who are suing the US oil giant. Plaintiffs sought $6 billion in damages, alleging that Texaco dumped more than 18 billion gallons of oily wastewater into the verdant rain forest, and failed to properly clean it up. Their evidence includes studies showing elevated cancer rates in the area.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Estonia protesters gathered at a Soviet war grave in downtown Tallinn, as authorities prepared to remove the bodies despite Russia's angry objections. Estonia's government intends to relocate the Soviet grave, believed to contain the remains of 14 soldiers, and the Bronze Soldier statue next to it.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Greece suspected anarchists threw gasoline bombs at cars parked outside a central Athens police station, destroying 12 vehicles in the latest in a series of arson attacks, authorities said.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In India police arrested 3 suspected Islamic militants armed with explosives near the Dilli Haat crafts market, a popular New Delhi tourist site. A Pakistani national and two Kashmiris were carrying a package of explosives, a detonator and a hand grenade. They were believed to be members of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant group.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq killed 10 soldiers. 4 insurgents were killed as the US targeted suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants near Taji. 2 women and 2 children were believed to have been killed during the fighting. 2 suicide bombers attacked an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, killing three of its guards and wounding five. In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed a passing police patrol but killed 4 civilians and wounded 9. A parked car bomb exploded near Baghdad University, killing 6 civilians and wounding 18, including some students. US forces killed 3 insurgents during a gunbattle in the Shiite neighborhood Sadr City. The US military announced that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele has been charged with nine offenses, including aiding the enemy. Violence in Iraq killed at least 72 people, including the bullet-riddled bodies of 27 men dumped in Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
(AP, 4/26/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Police in Lebanon found the bodies of a man and a 12-year-old boy who disappeared earlier this week, an incident that has shaken the country and sparked fears of renewed sectarian violence.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia's 13th king, formally ascended the throne, pledging to reign wisely and safeguard the sanctity of Islam in a ceremony marked by traditional Malay rites and imperial pageantry. Malaysia's system allows each of its hereditary state rulers to take turns reigning as the country's constitutional monarch for five years each.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A new measure legalizing abortions in Mexico City was published into law, allowing doctors to almost immediately begin terminating pregnancies in their first trimester.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Myanmar and North Korea signed an agreement to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Nigeria's main opposition party said it will not recognize or cooperate with any government formed as a result of last weekend's presidential election, which was won by the party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Peru’s Congress granted President Garcia the power to rule by decree for 60 days on matters related to drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime, strengthening his hand in the battle against cocaine production and smuggling. A US report claimed that the Shining Path may now have hundreds of armed combatants and that it is entwined with drug trafficking.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.50)
2007 Apr 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his last annual address to lawmakers, attacked US foreign policy and embraced traditional values in a hawkish speech that laid out a route for his successor to follow when he steps down next year.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Somalia's prime minister claimed victory over Islamic insurgents in Mogadishu, where nine days of battles using tanks and artillery left hundreds dead.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Syria’s government said that the ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats in parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the opposition as a farce.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Turkey an eight-story apartment building collapsed in Istanbul, and some people were reportedly buried under the debris.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Zimbabwe's central bank governor Gideon Gono said the annual rate of inflation, already the highest in the world, rose to 2,200 percent last month.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, President Bush and visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe threatened stronger punitive actions against North Korea if it reneged on a promise to padlock its sole nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/27/08)
2007 Apr 27, The US dollar slid to a record low against the euro. The worst economic growth in four years raised concern that troubles in the US housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 27, The Pentagon said it had taken custody of Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, a senior al-Qaeda commander. Officials said al-Iraqi was handed over to the CIA in late 2006.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 27, The Ninth Circuit federal appeals court rebuffed a Bush administration effort to relax dolphin-safe labeling standards.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 27, The DJIA rose 15.44 to a record 13,120.94. Nasdaq rose 2.75 to 2,557.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 27, In Santa Cruz, Ca., Steven Harold Smith (50), a supervisor at a wastewater treatment plant, wounded his estranged wife, shot and killed a co-worker and then killed himself.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 27, Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and police retook the Giro district from the Taliban, pushing out militants who had seized the area in fierce fighting a day earlier.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to phase out tax breaks and discounts on land and electricity for highly polluting industries, saying the country's environmental situation was grim and required urgent action.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Estonia removed a Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn under cover of darkness, carrying out a plan that has rankled Russia and provoked protests that left one person dead and dozens injured.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, US-led forces detained nine suspected insurgents in raids aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq, including five in Mosul that has seen a recent rise in violence as militants fled there to escape a crackdown in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was cleared in a high-profile corruption case involving bribing judges.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, The UN Security Council lifted its embargo on Liberia's diamond exports, saying the west African nation has made progress in certifying the origin of its rough diamonds. A multi-day strike at the Firestone Rubber plantation in Liberia turned violent as police clashed with striking workers, leaving at least six people wounded.
(AFP, 4/27/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Nigeria's Supreme Court voided the removal of Joshua Dariye, a Plateau state governor, who fled London on money laundering charges in November 2004. In Nigeria police said 5 gunmen and two police officers were killed during an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in the oil-rich city of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, An apparent US missile strike killed 4 people in Saidgi, a village in the North Waziristan of Pakistan near the Afghan border.
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269012,00.html)
2007 Apr 27, A Russian military helicopter crashed in Chechnya, killing all 18 people aboard, emergency officials said. There were conflicting reports about whether the craft was shot down.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Mstislav Rostropovich (b.1927), master cellist, died. He had fought for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents and later triumphantly played Bach suites below the crumbling Berlin Wall.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.92)
2007 Apr 27, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said police had arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields. A spokesman said all that remained in the plot "was to set the zero hour." More than $32.4 million was seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, A Spanish judge indicted three US soldiers in the 2003 death of Jose Couso, a Spanish journalist who was killed when their tank opened fire at a hotel in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, Actors and musicians including Elton John, George Clooney, Bob Geldof and Mick Jagger called on world leaders to take "decisive action" over atrocities in Darfur. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged African, Arab and Western diplomats to work with Sudanese rebels to find an immediate solution to the crisis in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Richard Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the UN, said Afghanistan's US-backed government, tarnished by corruption and unable to control large swaths of its own territory, is rapidly losing the support of ordinary Afghans.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Dabbs Greer, character actor, died at age 90.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Tommy Newsom, "Tonight Show" assistant conductor, died at age 78.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Lou Papan (78), long-time California state assemblyman for San Mateo County, died. Papan had started his political career as a Daly City councilman.
(SFC, 5/1/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 28, The Taliban freed a female French aid worker who was kidnapped more than three weeks ago, but demanded the withdrawal of French troops or release of prisoners for the freedom of a French man and three Afghans still being held. Afghan and coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in separate incidents in the east and south, killing 21 insurgents.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Australia's centre-left Labor Party scrapped its 25-year ban on new uranium mines in a move miners said would encourage new investment and growth in the industry.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's president called for closer business ties with Taiwan to help squelch the self-ruled island's pro-independence movement as he met with a former Taiwanese opposition leader.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Estonia minority Russian youths angry over the government's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from Tallinn rioted for a second night, with unrest spreading to at least two other towns. 66 people were injured in the capital, including six policemen. More than 500 people, many of them adolescents, were detained overnight as vandals prowled the streets, breaking shop windows and looting stores.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Guyana police found the remains of an elderly woman who was lynched by a crowd of villagers. She had been accused of being an “Old Higue," an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, It was reported that pro-Indonesian militias had regrouped in the mountainous center of Aceh as the Communication Forum for Children of the Nation (Forkab).
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.47)
2007 Apr 28, A parked car exploded near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the city of Karbala as people were headed to the area for evening prayers, killing 68 people and wounding dozens. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in a Sunni-Shiite neighborhood, killing 4 of 7 people aboard. In western Baghdad, two mortar shells hit another residential area of poor, two-story homes, killing 3 Iraqi children, between the ages of 5 and 7, and wounding 10 Iraqis, including 3 children. US forces detained 17 suspected insurgents in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq. The Danish military announced that it has sent an unspecified number of special forces to Iraq to reinforce its 460-strong contingent near the southern city of Basra. A US soldier was slain by small arms fire during a patrol in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Israeli troops killed at least three Hamas militants who were en route to carrying out an attack.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Jamaica the 7-week, 1st Cricket World Cup ended with Australia defeating Sri Lanka.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.48)
2007 Apr 28, The 1st round of the Mali presidential election garnered a turnout of around 36%. Incumbent President Amadou Toumani Toure (59), one of 8 candidates, was widely expected to win a second term. General Amadou Toumani Toure and Soumaila Cisse, candidate for the ruling party Adema, faced each other for the 2nd round.
(AFP, 5/6/07)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1982814.stm)
2007 Apr 28, In Nigeria ballot papers were stolen and voters intimidated as polls were re-staged for hundreds of state and federal legislators' seats after elections widely condemned as fraudulent. Oil officials said Nigeria is currently losing 600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich Niger Delta as a result of the activities of militants in the region.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AFP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In northwest Pakistan a suicide attacker detonated a bomb as Aftab Khan Sherpao, the interior minister, finished speaking at a public meeting, killing 28 people and wounding the official. Saud Memon (44), a suspect in the death of WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl, was dumped, badly injured and weighing less than 80 pounds, in front of his Karachi home. He had been secretly detained and interrogated by US and Pakistani intelligence.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(WSJ, 11/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 28, A Philippine air force helicopter crashed on a busy street in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu Island, pinning a motorcycle taxi and hitting another with its spinning rotors. At least 9 people on the ground and one airman were killed. Norberto Linao Jr., the mayor of Morong town in Bataan province, escaped injury after assailants sprayed his house with gunfire.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Turkey's Islamist-rooted government called the army to order, saying it is answerable to the civilian authority, after the military threatened action to defend the country's secular system.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 28, Zimbabwe announced new controls to clamp down on charities and other humanitarian organizations, including democracy and human rights groups that the government accuses of campaigning against it. A state daily reported that Zimbabwe has compensated 800 white farmers for property seized during controversial land reforms launched by President Robert Mugabe's government.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 29, A stretch of highway near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames, leaving one of the nation's busiest spans in a state of near paralysis. Officials said traffic could be disrupted for months. Driver James Mosqueda (51) managed to away with 2nd degree burns.
(AP, 4/29/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 29, In Kansas City, Mo., David W. Logsdon, driving a dead woman’s car, was shot and killed by police after he killed 2 people in the parking lot of a mall.
(SFC, 4/30/07, p.A3)(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in the crash of his sport utility vehicle.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, Hundreds of angry protesters chanting "Death to Bush" demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan after six people, including a woman and a teenage girl, were reportedly killed when US-led coalition and Afghan forces raided a suspected car bomb cell. Afghanistan's education minister said at least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in attacks blamed on insurgents who oppose education for girls and teaching boys anything other than religion. In western Afghanistan coalition and Afghan forces attacked the insurgents and called in an airstrike, destroying seven Taliban positions and killing 87 fighters during a 14-hour engagement in Herat province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Octavio Frias de Oliveira (94), who published Brazil's biggest newspaper and Web site and helped modernize the country's media, died of kidney failure.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In China 7 suspects went on trial in the beating death of a reporter at an illegal coal mine in northern Shanxi province. Lan Chengzhang was attacked along with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the small unlicensed coal mine outside the northern city of Datong on Jan 10. He died the next day from head injuries.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Colombia's navy made the largest drug seizure in the nation's history as it uncovered up to 27 tons of cocaine buried along the Pacific coast.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Egypt police arrested two lawmakers and at least 10 other members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group as part of an ongoing campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, American troops also detained 72 suspected insurgents and seized nitric acid and other bomb-making materials during raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq in Anbar province. Britain said one of its soldiers was shot to death while on patrol in southern Iraq. In Basra 5 people were reported killed by an explosion. Iraqi police initially said it was a car bomb, but the British military said it appeared the blast accidentally occurred while explosives and weapons were being moved. A roadside bomb killed 3 American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter on a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad. A Marine was killed during combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Japan and the resources-rich United Arab Emirates agreed to launch a high-level dialogue aimed at boosting economic ties and to speed up talks on a free trade pact. Officials of the governmental Japan Bank for International Cooperation decided to extend massive loans to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in exchange for securing a stable oil supply for Japan.
(AP, 4/29/07)(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070430a2.html)
2007 Apr 29, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah held an unannounced meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Saudi Arabia banned the sale of concentrated fertilizer, a favorite component of homemade terrorist bombs.
(AP, 4/30/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.60)
2007 Apr 29, Tamil Tiger rebels bombed a fuel refinery and gasoline storage facility near the Sri Lankan capital, and authorities cut power to the city. Hours later, the military pounded rebel positions in the north.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Protests took place around the world to demand that world leaders act to prevent further bloodshed in Darfur on the fourth anniversary of the conflict's start.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand killed two Buddhist villagers, beheading one of them, and left a note saying the attack was revenge for a deadly weekend bombing at a mosque.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Some 700,000 Turks waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul to demand the resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey's leaders threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela hopes to gradually sell off its refineries in the United States and build a new network of refineries in Latin America, part of a plan to offer his leftist allies in the region a stable oil supply.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The US announced a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, with proposed lease sales covering 48 million new acres.
(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, US and Mexican law enforcement officials said Mexican druglords are taking over the business of smuggling migrants into the United States, using them as human decoys to divert authorities from billions of dollars in cocaine shipments across the same border.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Delta Air Lines emerged from bankruptcy after 19 months in Chapter 11.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.84)
2007 Apr 30, Tom Poston (b.1921), American TV and film actor, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 4/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Poston)
2007 Apr 30, The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, a meeting arranged by Turkish leaders, agreed to share intelligence on extremist groups to bolster efforts to deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists in both countries. NATO-led troops killed 75 suspected insurgents on the first day of an operation against Taliban militants in a valley in southern Helmand province. Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat, after coalition and Afghan operations there on April 27 and 29, insisting that civilians were among the victims. Police the next day said at least 30 civilians, including women and children, were among those killed in Shindand's fighting. The US military reported killing 136 rebels over 3 days of fighting in western Afghanistan. One US soldier died in the clashes.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)(AFP, 5/1/07)(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, Miles Hilton-Barber (58), A blind British adventurer, touched down in Sydney Monday to end an epic 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London. His 54-day journey was performed under the supervision of sighted co-pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, A British judge sentenced five men to life in prison for plotting to bomb several targets in London including a popular nightclub, power plants and shopping mall in a trial that exposed links between the men and at least two of the suicide bombers who attacked the capital two years ago. Mohammed Junaid Babar's testimony in the yearlong trial revealed how disaffected Britons were trained for terrorism in Pakistan, where many have family ties. The former terrorist turned informant was arrested in New York in 2004, and has since given evidence to prosecutors in Britain, the US and Pakistan.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, Britain's first convicted war criminal was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed from the army in connection with the death of an Iraqi hotel worker. Corp. Donald Payne had pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians in southern Basra in 2003.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In China a manager of a feed company and one of the chemical's producers said that the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China. The process fraudulently boosts the feed's sales value but risks introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Egyptian authorities released two Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers but ordered 12 other members of the country's most powerful opposition group detained.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, A suicide car bomber apparently targeting an Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi checkpoint near a busy square in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Harthiyah in western Baghdad, killing 4 people and wounding 10. Some 50 gunmen attacked a police station in a mainly Sunni Arab area in the northern city of Mosul, prompting clashes as police chased the attackers through the streets. 4 gunmen were killed and two were detained, while one policeman was wounded. A parked car bomb struck a police patrol in the same area, killing one policeman and wounding two. A suicide bomber struck a crowd of funeral mourners north of Baghdad killing over 30 people. Nationwide at least 102 people were killed.
(AP, 4/30/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 30, An Israeli government commission aimed harsh criticism at PM Ehud Olmert and other officials for their handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Hundreds of protesters briefly pushed into the Palestinian education ministry as Fatah-allied teachers in the West Bank went on strike to press for the payment of overdue salaries. Angry Palestinian demonstrators stormed the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City, demanding that Egypt release five Palestinians held in Cairo jails.
(AP, 5/1/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In the northern Philippines Mayor Julian Resuello of San Carlos died 2 days after he was shot to death.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The South African government and AIDS campaigners launched a joint national body to oversee a program aimed at halving the country's rate of new infections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Sudanese armed forces vowed to "crush" a coalition of rebel groups in Darfur for killing an officer whose helicopter had landed in north Darfur after a technical failure.
(Reuters, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Thailand suspected Islamic insurgents exploded a bomb at a busy night market and wounded 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Tunisia a stampede at an open-air concert by stars of the Arab version of "American Idol" killed seven young people and injured 32.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Turkish stock market plunged, reacting sharply to political tensions as the Islamic-rooted government comes under strong pressure from secular circles to call parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, President Hugo Chavez announced he would pull Venezuela out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a largely symbolic move because the nation has already paid off its debts to the lending institutions.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr, in Azerbaijan journalist Eynulla Fatullayev was imprisoned. He was soon sentenced to 8-1/2 years in jail on charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred and tax evasion. In December 2009 new charges of illegal possession of drugs were brought against him.
(Reuters, 6/3/10)
2007 Apr, Georgia reported that outbreaks of African swine fever began at the end of April in 10 regions across the country. 20,000 pigs were soon slaughtered. In June the UN said that the outbreak could have a "catastrophic" economic impact unless its spread is halted.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Apr, The web site mediapredict.com began operations. The NYC-based start-up used editorial feedback from a large number of volunteers in a game format to help executives decide which manuscripts should become books.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.73)(http://mediapredict.com/)
2007 Apr, Bolivia became the 32nd nation to ban or restrict used clothing imports in an attempt to protect native clothing industries.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Apr, In Colombia the soldiers in Antelope Company's Third Platoon killed Leonardo Montes, a civilian and brother to one of the platoon’s soldiers, and registered the murder as a guerrilla kill. The brother’s pleas failed to prevent the killing. The platoon hadn't registered a guerrilla kill in months, and without results, they feared they wouldn't be let off base for Mother's Day. 5 soldiers faced a criminal probe in the murder, joining some 480 soldiers under investigation for about 1,000 extrajudicial killings during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Apr, Yoani Sanchez (32) began posting her Generacion Y blog from Havana.
(WSJ, 12/22/07, p.A1)(www.desdecuba.com/generaciony)
2007 Apr, In India Mahindra Renault, a joint venture formed in 2005, launched a new version of the Logan priced at $7,100 before taxes. The original Logan was designed in Romania. It went on sale in Iran in March under the name Tondar (thunder), with record orders and deliveries due in May. Iran’s model was built by Iran Khodro (IKCO) and Saipa.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.78)
2007 Apr, A court in Venice, Italy, allowed Alexandra Hai (40), a German of Algerian descent, to operate a gondola, but only for the residents of one of the city’s hotels. Her permit was opposed by the city’s male gondoliers.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A11)
2007 Apr, Stanislovas Jucys, a Lithuanian businessman, disappeared. He was the CEO of a Kaliningrad-based construction company with a majority stake in Lithuanian hands. Jucys' replacement was killed a few months later, and the company was taken over by a Russian firm.
(Reuters, 3/20/08)
2007 Apr, Mexico’s CompartamosBanco went public as a lender to the poor. It was created in 1990 as a non-Governmental Organization (NGO). ACCION Int’l., a charity that has helped to spread microfinance since the 1970s, was an early investor and banked $140 million in the IPO, while retaining a 9% stake. ACCION had received funding from USAID.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.93)(http://tinyurl.com/46esnp)
2007 Apr, The International Prize for Arabic Fiction was officially launched in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2008 the Philanthropy in Abu Dhabi awarded the 1st annual Int’l. Prize for Arabic Fiction to Bahaa Taher for “Sunset Oasis."
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.95)(http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1064)
2007 May 1, Pres. Bush cast the 2nd veto of his presidency rejecting an attempt by both chambers of Congress to set a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.36)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. In November the US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7 rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC, 11/28/07, p.A3)
2007 May 1, John Hickenlooper (b.1952) was re-elected mayor of Denver with 86.3% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.39)(www.citymayors.com/mayors/denver_mayor.html)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people protested across the US to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2007 May 1, Kenneth John Freeman (44), a bodybuilder and computer expert from Benton County, Washington, was arrested in Hong Kong. Freeman, who fled the US 13 months earlier, was accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack.
(www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/050207.htm)
2007 May 1, The design for the Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, was announced. It includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a saguaro in a desert landscape below. The 48th of the state series will be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Australian police arrested two men accused of raising money for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on the pretext of collecting donations for victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thirty people were arrested in raids across Belgium, England, and the Netherlands targeting suspected animal rights extremists.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, John Browne, head of BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover. In 2014 he authored “The Glass Closet."
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.62)
2007 May 1, Britain's largest ever trade union, representing about two million public and private sector workers, was launched following the merger of two workers' bodies. The Unite union officially formed following a recent vote for merger by members of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, founded in 1922.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_General_Workers%27_Union)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Indonesia tens of thousands of workers marked May Day by taking to the streets to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iran stood firm in opposing language in a nuclear conference agenda that reaffirms the need for full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a stance that diplomats said could scuttle the meeting aimed at strengthening the accord.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iraqi officials have received reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri (aka Abu Hamza al-Muhajer), the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said the information has not been confirmed. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to have been killed April 30 in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south, killing 14 people. Mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the US-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Macao May Day protesters clashed with riot police as a rally against labor shortages turned violent, sparking rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Mexico 5 soldiers, including a colonel, and a suspected drug cartel enforcer were killed in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by drug violence and is the target of a military-led anti-drug offensive.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists threatened to push the nation back into turmoil by launching huge nationwide protests unless parliament immediately ousts the king and declares a republic.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radiotelevision station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of laborers rallied across Pakistan demanding better wages and living conditions to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of South Africans marched in Durban to protest the renaming of streets after heroes of the ruling African National Congress, sparking warnings of violence in the Zulu heartland.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields, intensifying a struggle with international firms over the development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Zimbabwe boosted the price of corn meal, a keystone of the nation’s diet, by nearly 600%.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 2, In a defeat for anti-war Democrats, Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of legislation requiring the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Bush declared al-Qaida "public enemy No. 1 in Iraq."
(AP, 5/2/08)
2007 May 2, Cablevision Systems Corp. agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6 billion in cash.
(SFC, 5/3/07, p.C2)
2007 May 2, James Abegglen, American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.," died in Japan. In the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese Management."
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)
2007 May 2, Afghan regional officials said that 51 villagers, some of them women and children, were killed in recent fighting in western Afghanistan. The US-led coalition said it had no reports of civilian deaths.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A former prime minister led his opposition party to victory in the Bahamas, returning to power in elections dominated by questions about the direction of the tourism-driven economy. Hubert Ingraham's Free National Movement won 23 seats in the 41-seat legislature, while PM Perry Christie's Progressive Liberal Party claimed the other 18.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature dairy cow in the province of British Columbia.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of Hungary's last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried open and his remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The Iranian state news agency reported that the country's former nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, has been arrested on an unspecified security charge.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A suicide car bomber struck in the main Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least nine people as the US military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly complete. Three more US soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital. At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Agency said hundreds of dead seals have washed up on its Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total number of the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to 832.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Ahmed Errachidi (41) a Moroccan man sent home from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay last week, was released by local authorities after terrorism-related charges were dropped.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The International Criminal Court in the Hague said it has issued arrest warrants for the Sudanese government's humanitarian affairs minister and a janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Romania’s Parliament approved an agreement allowing the US to use four military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The South Korean government announced its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of the peninsula's occupation. 2 defectors to South Korea described how they had been tortured in a North Korean prison camp, as a South Korean rights group issued a report on abuses of detainees in the communist state.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Taiwan's opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou was nominated by his Kuomintang party to run for the 2008 presidential election and pledged to improve economic ties with China.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Thailand's military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont said he has tasked his southern army commander with developing a detailed amnesty proposal for Islamic militants.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Isaac Matongo (60), the chairman of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and former trade unionist, died.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, A US House panel called on the VA chief to explain why top officials got hefty bonuses even as veteran’s care deteriorated.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, A US federal judge barred planting of alfalfa engineered by Monsanto to resist Roundup, a popular weed killer made by Monsanto, pending further study.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, The Florida Legislature gave its final approval to moving the state's 2008 primary from early March to Jan. 29.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2007 May 3, Ignacio De La Fuente Jr. (32), the son of Oakland, Ca., City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, pleaded guilty to 5 felony sex charges committed between 2003 and 2005. Three of his 4 victims were prostitutes.
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B5)
2007 May 3, James H. Simons, mathematician and philanthropist, announced a $10 million donation to Berkeley’s Mathematical Sciences Research Institute from the Simons Foundation. Simons is president of Renaissance Technologies Corp., a private investment firm dedicated to the use of mathematical methods.
(SSFC, 5/6/07, p.B7)
2007 May 3, In Alabama Jamison Stone (11) killed a wild pig weighing 1,051 pounds with a .50 caliber revolver. The pig measured 9 feet, 4 inches from snout to tail. The animal's former owner later said the not-so-wild pig, named Fred, had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 3, Dr. Leonard D. Eron (87), psychologist, died in Illinois. His research led him to warn society that children who watch violent TV shows tend to show aggressive and destructive behaviour later in life. He determined that aggression is learned behaviour.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B4)
2007 May 3, Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, died in La Jolla, Ca. From 1962 to 1968 he logged over 295 hours in space.
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B9)
2007 May 3, A remote-control bomb hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing the driver and wounding 29 people, including 22 soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, African neighbors Sudan and Chad signed a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal in Saudi Arabia, requiring both sides to cooperate with the United Nations to stabilize Darfur and the adjacent region in Chad.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Australia signed the first in a series of contracts that will see its air force buy 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter-bombers from the US Navy.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Voters handed PM Tony Blair's Labour Party a string of embarrassing defeats in local elections.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Madeleine McCann (3), a British girl, was kidnapped from her bed in a Portuguese beach resort while her parents dined nearby.
(Reuters, 5/5/07)
2007 May 3, Seven of Canada's biggest investment dealers said they plan to launch a new Alternative Trading System in 2008 to boost the efficiency of equity trading and make Canada more globally competitive. The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a monster gold coin with a face value of C$1 million (455,000 pounds) that it says is the world's biggest, purest and highest denomination coin.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Forces loyal to the outgoing president of the Comoros island of Anjouan took control of a building housing federal offices in what one African Union official called a coup.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, A pair of heavily armed Cuban soldiers seized a city bus, killed an army officer and triggered a gun battle in a foiled bid to hijack a charter flight bound for the United States.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Ecuador's new leftist government set up a truth commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses committed over the last 27 years, particularly during the right-wing administration of former President Leon Febres Cordero.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Egypt a conference of nearly 50 nations opened at Sharm el-Sheik to rally international support, particularly from Arab nations, for an ambitious plan to stabilize Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syria's foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the two countries in years. Hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across its border.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In France Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told a news conference that there is no reason why Iran should not have nuclear energy.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, US-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida in Iraq killed Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri, described as al-Qaida's information minister. He was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners. Gunmen stormed the offices of an independent radio station in a predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad, killing two employees and wounding five before bombing the building and knocking the station off the air. Police in Fallujah found nine bullet-riddled bodies, four members of a Sunni tribe that recently joined an alliance against al-Qaida in Iraq and five found near the tax office. Gunmen stormed a market in Baqouba killing a plainclothes policeman after a militant read a death sentence issued by al-Qaida and two Shiite men. They then killed a policeman after he arrived at the scene to investigate.
(AP, 5/3/07)(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Israel the campaign to oust PM Ehud Olmert shifted to the streets, with a mass rally in Tel Aviv expected to draw tens of thousands of people calling for the embattled leader to step down.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In Nigeria at least 21 workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in separate attacks in the oil-rice delta region. 8 foreigners and a Nigerian were later freed.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, The Ulster Volunteer Force, an outlawed Northern Ireland group that for decades attacked the province's Catholic minority, renounced violence and pledged to disarm.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that US-based Texas Instruments Inc., the world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips, will build a $1 billion plant in the Philippines, choosing the country over China despite concerns about power costs.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Russia lashed out at the EU and NATO for supporting Estonia in its row with Moscow over the relocation of a Soviet war monument.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Scotland held parliamentary elections. Labor was knocked out of the top spot for the 1st time in 50 years by the Scottish National Party. The SNP supported a future referendum on independence. The SNP won 47 of the 129 seats.
(AFP, 5/3/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.61)(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2007 May 3, Turkish lawmakers moved up elections to July 22, after the Islamic-rooted ruling party and its secular opposition agreed that an early ballot was the only way out of their standoff over political Islam.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned he will nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer in an apparent bid to strong-arm the businesses to contribute more to local industry.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, US federal officials placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, The United States said it will provide more than $14 million in security assistance to Kenya to boost efforts to combat terrorist activities in the east African nation.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, An Alaska lawmaker and two of his former colleagues were arrested for allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO Corp., a private oil services company, to pass a new oil-tax system.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Reuters Group PLC said that it had received a preliminary takeover approach. The bidder was identified as Thomson Corp., a financial data and information provider based in Stamford, Conn., owned by the Thomson family of Canada.
(AP, 5/4/07)(http://tinyurl.com/2m8qt5)
2007 May 4, Tornadoes in southwest Kansas killed at least seven people and leveled most of Greensburg.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, In Austria a standoff pitting Iran against most others delegations at a 130-nation nuclear conference deepened, with organizers adjourning the third straight session in as many days without breaking a deadlock over the language of the meeting's agenda.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Two Azerbaijani journalists were convicted and sentenced to prison for inciting hatred with an article criticizing Islam.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Brazil’s Pres. Lula da Silva issued a license allowing Brazil to buy or produce a cheap generic version of AIDS drug efavirenz, bypassing Merck’s patent. The compulsory licensing for efavirenz will allow Brazil to import unbranded copies at a quarter of current prices while paying Merck a nominal royalty.
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 May 4, A British court found Frederick Chiluba, Zambia's first democratically elected president (1991-2001), guilty of stealing $46 million in government funds and ordered him to repay the entire sum. He had gone on trial in Zambia in 2003, accused of 169 counts of corruption, abuse of power and theft, but was declared unfit to stand trial on the grounds of ill health.
(AP, 5/4/07)(Econ, 11/21/09, p.51)
2007 May 4, A rebel spokesman said a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal signed by Chad with its neighbor Sudan will not halt a guerrilla war by Chadian rebels aimed at toppling President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Guinea soldiers protesting the government's failure to give them promised pay raises beat a shopkeeper to death as they looted his store and fired shots in the air, wounding at least 25 civilians.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, A boat loaded with Haitian migrants capsized while being towed by a police boat from the Turks and Caicos Islands. 78 of some 160 people survived. Haitian migrants later claimed a Turks and Caicos naval vessel rammed their crowded sailboat twice before it capsized.
(AP, 5/4/07)(SFC, 5/5/07, p.A8)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 4, A roadside bomb killed five Iraqi policemen on a patrol in western Baghdad. US forces broke up a Shiite militant cell believed to be smuggling an armor-piercing Iranian weapon responsible for an increasing number of American and Iraqi deaths. 16 suspected militants were arrested in the Baghdad raid. 7 bodies were found floating in the Diyala River in Baqouba. The bullet-riddled bodies of five police officers, dressed in civilian clothes, were discovered outside the city of Beiji. The US military identified two more top al-Qaida aides killed during an operation earlier this week targeting Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri. A US soldier was killed and two were wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed a US soldier and wounded four others in western Baghdad.
(AP, 5/4/07)(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 4, Assailants in western Baghdad looted and burned the building which housed independent Radio Dijla, founded by Ahmed Rikaby in 2004. The attack came one day after staffers fought off some 2 dozen gunmen. Staff moved to new quarters in Sulaymaniya and within 9 days resumed broadcasting.
(SFC, 11/22/07, p.A25)
2007 May 4, The divided Koreas agreed to discuss historic trial runs of cross-border railways, as Washington cautioned Seoul against rushing to embrace Pyongyang before it takes steps to dismantle its nuclear program.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Somalia Mohamed Dheere, a former warlord, was sworn in as mayor of Mogadishu and immediately ordered residents to get rid of their weapons. Aid groups said 1,670 people were killed between March 12 and April 26 and more than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fled for safety as the government, backed by Ethiopian troops, pressed to wipe out an Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Delegates meeting in Thailand from 120 countries approved the first roadmap for stemming greenhouse gas emissions, laying out what they said was an affordable arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into place to avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Ukraine's president and prime minister reached agreement on holding early parliamentary elections in a bid to end a political standoff between the rival leaders.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met with Pope Benedict XVI for talks the Vatican hoped would help heal tensions left from the pontiff's remarks on Islam and violence, but the Iranian said the wounds were still very deep.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, The UN agency for refugees began repatriating thousands of Congolese refugees in Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 5, Street Sense roared from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2007 May 5, In Las Vegas Floyd Mayweather Jr. won his boxing match against Oscar De La Hoya in a 12-round split decision. A sellout crowd of 16,200 paid a record $19 million gate.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, Four suicide bombings struck Afghanistan, killing two policemen, as military officials announced more than 10 Taliban commanders were killed in major battles a week ago.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Belgium’s daily La Derniere Heure reported that prosecutors in Brussels, overwhelmed by the number of speeding fines imposed since fixed radar traps were installed, have asked police to let off all but the worst offenders, angering local mayors.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, In central China an explosion at the Pudeng mine, outside of Linfen city, killed 28 miners and trapped others.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, It was reported that China has 16 of the world’s most polluted cities. The UN said dirty air caused the premature death of some 400,000 Chinese each year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR p.11)
2007 May 5, Colombian officials reported that forensic teams have unearthed 211 bodies buried in dozens of mass graves near La Hormiga in southern Colombia in the past 10 months, a legacy of fierce fighting in this coca-rich land.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Al-Qaida in Iraq released a recording purportedly of its leader, who had been reported killed in recent fighting, branding the country's Sunni vice president a "criminal" for participating in the government. A suicide bomber, meanwhile, struck an army recruitment center outside Baghdad, killing 15 people, among nearly 40 killed or found dead. Residents and police in a Shiite area in eastern Baghdad said US helicopters fired on three houses, killing six men and wounding a woman and five children. The US military said a helicopter supporting ground operations in the area came under fire but did not shoot back. Two US Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, A roller coaster traveling up to 46 mph hit a guardrail at an amusement park in western Japan, killing one person and injuring 21 others.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A Kenya Airways jet with 114 people on board crashed after sending out a distress signal over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from 23 countries. There were no survivors.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, The 12 million people of Mali earned on average less than $400 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, The 3 million people of Mauritania earned on average about $530 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, In southern Nigeria armed men kidnapped a Briton overnight from the Trident 8 oil rig. Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt kidnapped a Russian woman who worked for a catering company.
(AFP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Prince Abdul-Majid bin Abdul-Aziz (65), the governor of Mecca, died after a long illness.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Hundreds of burly former militiamen from the Balkan wars regrouped outside a church in central Serbia, promising to fight together as a paramilitary unit once more if Kosovo breaks away from the government in Belgrade.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Sri Lankan naval craft sank two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the island's northeastern coast, inflicting heavy losses on the guerrillas.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, In southern Sudan an attack by one tribe left 54 members of another tribe dead, mainly women.
(AP, 8/24/07)
2007 May 5, Tens of thousands of secularist flag-waving Turks rallied for the third big anti-government protest in a month as conflict rages over the role of religion in the Muslim country's politics.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A state daily said Zimbabwe has lost about 40 black rhinos to poachers who have killed the animals in some government parks and conservancies over the past 3 years.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 6, Carey Bell, Mississippi-born blues harmonica player, died in Chicago.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B5)
2007 May 6, In eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed 5 police and wounded two others, while a clash in the west left eight police and at least four suspected militants dead. An Afghan soldier shot and killed two US troops and wounded 2 others outside Pul-e-Charkhi prison. The next day Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said the Afghan soldier was mentally ill. A bus crashed in northern Afghanistan, sparking a fire that left nine people dead and 25 injured.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Brazil Eneas Carneiro (68), a three-time presidential candidate who was later elected to Congress with the largest number of votes ever received by a Brazilian lawmaker, died of leukemia.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, Britain’s Home Secretary John Reid announced that he would resign from the government within weeks, just as Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is likely to take over from Tony Blair as prime minister.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Lord Weatherill (86), the last speaker to wear the traditional shoulder-length wig, died. He had ushered Britain's House of Commons into the television age.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, In Egypt a plane carrying foreign peacekeepers across the Sinai desert crashed near a stretch of highway where it had tried to make an emergency landing, killing eight French soldiers and a Canadian.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, French voters turned out in force in a presidential election offering divergent choices for the future, with conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy urging the French to work more and Socialist Segolene Royal pledging to safeguard welfare protections. Nicolas Sarkozy (52), a US-friendly conservative and an immigrant's son, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53% to 47% with about 85% voter turnout.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, A car bomb ripped through a wholesale food market in western Baghdad, flattening cars and shops and killing at least 30 people in the deadliest of a wave of attacks across Iraq that killed at least 95 people. A car bomb near the Ministry of Labor in Baghdad killed five people and wounded 10. Insurgents exploded another car bomb outside a police station in the Sunni town of Samarra, killing 12 officers and disabling the city’s water system. A few minutes later, militants in the town attacked a police checkpoint near the Askariya shrine, killing another police officer. US and Iraqi forces raided the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, uncovering a weapons cache, a torture room and killing at least eight insurgents in a gunbattle. In Diyala 6 US soldiers and a Russian photojournalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle. Two American soldiers died in separate bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)(SFC, 5/7/07, p.A16)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A18)
2007 May 6, Two Israeli human rights groups charged in a report that Israel's Shin Bet security service uses torture in its interrogation of Palestinian prisoners, violating a 1999 court ruling outlawing such practices.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Italian news said a Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for cocaine use.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Japan pledged $100 million in grants to the Asian Development Bank to combat global warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, More than 18,000 people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square for US photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Pakistan's sacked top judge, declared the "era of dictatorship is over" to cheers from tens of thousands as he took his battle with President Pervez Musharraf to the eastern city of Lahore. In northwestern Pakistan a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and fell about 600 feet into a ravine, killing 21 people and injuring seven others.
(AFP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region Islamic militants began confiscating music cassettes from public buses and ordering shops to only sell CDs promoting jihad in the latest push to Talibanize the lawless frontier region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, Palestinian militants opened fire near a children's festival at a UN-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza Strip, killing a bodyguard of a local Fatah leader and wounding seven other people. Palestinian militants shot and seriously injured an Israeli motorist who was driving west of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In South Africa Helen Zille, mayor of Cape Town, was elected as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA).
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.51)
2007 May 6, Spain's Supreme Court barred hundreds of Basque separatist candidates from running in regional elections later this month because of links to an outlawed party closely tied to armed group ETA.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In eastern Sri Lanka a landmine detonated by Tamil Tigers killed three police commandos, while seven suspected rebels died elsewhere in the embattled region.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Frank Hsieh, former prime minister of Taiwan, won the ballot of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as candidate for next year’s presidential elections. Hsieh favored better relations with China.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.44)
2007 May 6, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for presidential elections after Parliament failed for the second time to vote him into office.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 7, President Bush welcomed Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to the White House. He brought roars of laughter when he mistakenly started to say that the queen had helped the US celebrate its bicentennial in "1776," then quickly corrected himself to say "1976."
(AP, 5/7/08)
2007 May 7, In New Jersey 6 Islamic militants from Yugoslavia and the Middle East were arrested on charges of plotting to attack the Fort Dix Army post and "kill as many soldiers as possible." In Dec 2008 a federal jury found 5 of the men guilty of plotting to kill US soldiers. 4 of the 5 men were also convicted of weapons charges. All were acquitted of attempted murder charges. In 2009 three brothers, Dritan (30), Shain (28) and Eljvir Duka (25), were convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. Mohamad Schnewer was also sentenced to life in prison and Serdar Tatar was sentenced to 33 years.
(AP, 5/8/07)(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A3)(SFC, 4/29/09, p.A4)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A4)
2007 May 7, The DJIA rose 48.35 to a record 13,312.97. Nasdaq fell 1.20 to 2,570.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.C1)
2007 May 7, Scientists testing the beds of streams around Portland, Oregon, found the residue of the region's medicine cabinets and coffee shops. The list of compounds includes many known by such names as Prozac, Tagamet, Benadryl, Micatin, and caffeine.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum company, said it would make a hostile bid for Canada's Alcan Inc., estimated at $27 billion, after talks between the rivals failed to lead to a deal.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Afghanistan a rocket slammed into a street outside an apartment building in Kabul, killing one man and wounding five other people including a small boy.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, The African Union announced it would send an extra 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that country.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Australian gangster Carl Williams was sentenced to 35 years in jail for murdering three underworld rivals in a gangland war which lasted almost 10 years and killed 28 people.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Austria a 130-nation nuclear meeting stalled for its sixth straight day after Iran refused to commit itself to a compromise meant to break a deadlock caused by Tehran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as she returned to Bangladesh after the military-backed government abandoned plans to force her into exile.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Stylist and fashion guru Isabella Blow (b.1958)), a vibrant and often outrageous presence on the British fashion scene, died of cancer.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, State media said China's top family planning body has warned that the country could face a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. In southwestern China a bus plunged off a highway, killing 17 people including three children and injuring 24 others.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Hong Kong newspapers reported that an unidentified animal illness has spread in two southern Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing more than 300. The diseased pigs began dying in Gaoyao and Yunfu in Guangdong province following Chinese New Year celebrations in February. The illness, which killed at least 300 pigs, was soon identified as a strain of blue ear disease. Blue ear disease, also called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, was first identified in the United States in 1987.
(AP, 5/8/07)(SFC, 5/8/07, p.A17)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 7, Ecuador's foreign minister said President Rafael Correa has decided not to renew a 1993 bilateral investment treaty with the United States, which expires this week.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, More than 1,000 government delegates gathered in Bonn, Germany, to find ways to break gridlock in international negotiations on widening action to slow global warming. The UN urged far tougher action to fight climate change at the 166-nation climate conference.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Two suicide car bombers attacked a market and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramadi, killing 13 people and dealing a blow to recent US success in reclaiming the Sunni city from insurgents. A mortar attack also killed five people and wounded two others in Baiyaa, a religiously mixed neighborhood in western Baghdad. Four Iraqi troops were killed in separate attacks in Baqouba. The bullet-riddled body of a policeman bearing signs of torture also was found outside Kirkuk. At least 68 people were killed or found dead nationwide including the bullet-riddled bodies of 30 men found in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Israeli scientists said they found King Herod’s tomb near Jerusalem.
(WSJ, 5/8/07, p.A1)
2007 May 7, The owner of the Macau bank at the heart of a dispute over North Korea's nuclear disarmament said he is challenging a US decision to shut it out of the global banking system.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In western Mexico 4 purported drug smugglers were killed in a shootout with soldiers in Apatzingan, Michoacan state, the second deadly clash in a week between traffickers and troops in the same remote, mountainous region.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Nigeria's next president Umaru Yar'Adua departed on a tour of seven African countries, his first foreign trip since being elected in April. Oil major Chevron said it had temporarily shut down its Ebite flow station in southern Nigeria because of a community protest.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended a judicial inquiry into misconduct charges against the country's top judge that triggered weeks of nationwide protests.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Russia’s state security service said fugitive Rustam Dzhumaliyev had evaded arrest and become a minor celebrity by masquerading as a US citizen hitch-hiking across the country for a record attempt.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In South Africa Dina Rodrigues was found guilty of murder for orchestrating the June 2005 killing of 6-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton, her lover's baby daughter from a previous marriage. This was South Africa's first known contract killing of an infant.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, South Korea and the European Union started free trade talks aimed at linking Asia's third largest economy to the world's biggest trading bloc.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Turkey's Islamic-rooted government, whose presidential candidate dropped his bid in the face of protests from pro-secular lawmakers, pushed for a constitutional amendment that allows the president to be elected in a popular vote rather than in a parliamentary poll.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, A large explosion in Ukraine knocked out of service one of the main pipelines which carries Siberian gas through Ukraine to Germany and other EU clients. Shifting soil led to a break in the pipeline.
(AP, 5/7/07)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Venezuela said it will not allow US agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the country, accusing the US Drug Enforcement Administration of being a "new cartel" that aids traffickers.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, The US hired a Florida firm to build a Guantanamo camp by next May to house fleeing Cubans should there be an exodus when Castro dies.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, The Pentagon announced that it had notified more than 35,000 Army soldiers to be prepared to deploy to Iraq beginning in the fall.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2007 May 8, Governors and environmental officials from 31 US states announced that they would create a national registry to measure greenhouse gas emissions.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A6)
2007 May 8, The SEC accused two Hong Kong residents of "widespread and unlawful trading activity" when they bought $15 million of Dow Jones & Co. stock ahead of an announcement that News Corp. was seeking to buy the company.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the nation’s first statewide living-wage bill.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A4)
2007 May 8, In Michigan Thomas Katona (56), the former Alcona County treasurer (1993-2006), pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges. He was accused of dumping public funds into fraudulent Nigerian investments. He lost more than $1.2 million in county funds altogether, plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that San Jose State Univ. planned to name its college of education after Connie Lurrie, the wife of former SF Giants owner Robert Lurrie, pledged to donate $10 million to the school.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B2)
2007 May 8, Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems. The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television Laboratories.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A new study found that US hospitals are charging uninsured patients about two-and-a-half times more than those with health insurance, a mark-up that has been steadily rising despite pressure to level prices.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A flood surge moved down the Missouri River and tributaries following weekend storms and damages approached 1993 levels.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, Afghanistan's upper house of parliament passed a bill calling for a halt to all international military operations unless coordinated with the Afghan government, action seen as a rebuke of the international mission here. In southern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed a NATO convoy, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him and killed a man in a bakery. Airstrikes called in by US Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents killed at least 21 civilians in the Sangin area of Helmand province. One coalition soldier was also killed. The US military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19 people killed and 50 wounded by US Marines Special Forces who fired indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan in March. Residents claimed that over 60 people were killed by the bombing.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A20)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that groups of elderly Australians are setting up backyard laboratories to manufacture an illegal euthanasia drug so they can kill themselves when they have had enough of life.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Austria officials said Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to raise money for the capital's main public library. Callers paid 53 cents a minute to listen to an actress read breathless passages from erotica dating to the Victorian era.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, News and information company Reuters Group PLC and financial data provider Thomson Corp. confirmed that they are discussing a combination of their businesses that values Reuters at more than $17 billion.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A survey showed that London beat the glamour of Monaco, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo to become the world's most expensive place to buy residential property.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Cuba released Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, a journalist who served 22-months in prison for participating in an anti-government rally. Guerra has been a contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as the US government-funded Radio Marti.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 8, An Egyptian court decided in a rare ruling that President Hosni Mubarak's order to try 40 of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood's top figures before a military court was not valid.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, The leader of France's defeated Socialists appealed for calm after a second night of post-election violence left cars burned and store windows smashed.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In India Mohammed Shahabuddin, a popular Muslim lawmaker from the state of Bihar, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on a charge of kidnapping with intent to kill a rival who disappeared eight years ago and has never been found.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Iran accepted a compromise on the agenda of a 130-nation nuclear conference, meeting in Austria, clearing the way for the meeting to approve it and end six days of deadlock that threatened to doom the gathering to failure.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A suicide car bomber flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite city of Kufa, killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and wounding 70. A roadside bomb went off next to a passing mini bus in the Shiite area of Zafaraniyah on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing three passengers and injuring five others. In Jalula a suicide bomber attacked a police station as the night-shift officers gathered in front of the building, preparing to go home. The explosion killed two policemen and wounded 20 others. The bullet-riddled bodies of six men, the apparent victims of sectarian violence, were found with their hands and legs bound and bearing marks of torture in an abandoned field in Baqouba. Also in Baqouba, 12 gunmen trying to rob a bank were confronted by Iraqi police, sparking a gunbattle that killed one police officer and wounded another. An Al-Qaida umbrella group threatened in a video to kill nine abducted Iraqi security officers in 72 hours unless their demands were met, including the release of all Sunni women from Iraqi prisons. An American soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting attack in Diyala province. 2 children were among five people killed when a helicopter fired at militants operating an illegal checkpoint and planting a roadside bomb near Mandali.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, The Moroccan Association of Human Rights, formed in 1979) announced that it had chosen Khadija Ryadi (47) as its first woman president.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and President Pervez Musharraf agreed to strengthen security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to contain the Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal. Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last week at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Northern Ireland Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley and IRA veteran Martin McGuinness formed a long-unthinkable alliance as power-sharing went from dream to reality.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In the Philippines a homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall in Tacurong city, killing three on the spot and five more overnight with 33 seriously wounded. Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A newspaper owned by Saudi Arabia's royal family said one of seven recently exposed Saudi terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating with al-Qaida in Iraq and held training camps in the desert of neighboring Yemen.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Serbia an ally of late President Slobodan Milosevic was elected as the new parliament speaker, signaling a return of ultranationalists to power in the Balkan country.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Taiwan rival lawmakers exchanged punches, climbed on each other's shoulders and jostled violently for position around the speaker's dais as the Legislature dissolved into chaos over an electoral reform bill.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Thailand and the United States launched their annual war games.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Zimbabwe riot police violently broke up a demonstration by dozens of lawyers protesting the arrest of two colleagues outside the High Court in Harare.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, The NY Times reported on its Web site that Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are paying doctors hundreds of millions of dollars every year in return for prescribing anemia drugs which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Alfred D. Chandler Jr., American historian, died in Massachusetts. He helped establish the field of business history. His books included “Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Revolution" (1962).
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.91)
2007 May 9, Afghan civilians fought with Taliban militants who hit a checkpoint near Sangin, leaving three of the attackers dead. A suicide car bomber killed two Afghans and wounded five when he detonated his car in the eastern Paktika province.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Police in Brazil and Norway detained at least 25 people in simultaneous raids on suspected criminal gangs, seeking evidence of money laundering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Britain’s Home Office, once called "not fit for purpose" by the minister in charge of it, was split into two in a bid to combat illegal immigration, crime and terrorism more effectively. British police arrested four people in connection with the suicide bombings that killed 52 bus and subway passengers in London in 2005.
(AFP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Chad pledged to work to demobilize hundreds of child soldiers fighting in the ranks of the government army and rebel groups across the conflict-torn central African country.
(Reuters, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, China ordered strengthened controls over its food industry after a series of health scares with international repercussions laid bare lax standards. A Beijing court sentenced a man to life in prison for taking nearly $500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter, and sometimes a top editor, for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, East Timor voted for a new president, choosing between a Nobel Prize winner and an ex-freedom fighter in polls critical to maintaining peace a year after the nation was pushed to the brink of civil war.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In the early hours Internet traffic in Estonia spiked to thousands of times the normal flow. May 10 was heavier still, forcing Estonia’s biggest bank to shut down its online service for more than an hour. Hansabank continued under assault and worked to block access to 300 suspect Internet addresses. On March 12, 2009, Konstantin Goloskokov, an activist with Russia's Nashi youth group and aide to a pro-Kremlin member of parliament, said he had organized a network of sympathizers who bombarded Estonian Internet sites with electronic requests, causing them to crash.
(www.lunchoverip.com/2007/05/estonia_under_c.html)(Reuters, 3/12/09)
2007 May 9, France’s interior minister said violence hit for a third night following the election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, with about 200 vehicles torched by vandals and more than 80 people taken in for questioning nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In France Nayef al-Shaalan, a Saudi Prince, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail on charges of involvement in a cocaine smuggling gang.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Hundreds of German police raided the offices and apartments of left-wing activists suspected of planning to disrupt next month's Group of Eight summit, leading security officials to tighten border controls ahead of the gathering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, US VP Dick Cheney and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing violence in Iraq, but both pledged their governments would continue working together toward a solution. A majority of Iraqi lawmakers endorsed a draft bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number already in the country. A suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior Ministry headquarters in the Kurdish city of Irbil, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens. Four Iraqi journalists were killed in a drive-by shooting near the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Gunmen killed two members of the minority Yazidi religious sect and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in Mosul. A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi military checkpoint in Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding two soldiers. Police found four decapitated heads in the Sabtiyah area north of Baqouba. The body of a security officer was found shot in the head and chest in Diwaniyah. 72 people killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Japan's Supreme Court rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In Mexico gunmen opened fire on a naval commander in the Pacific resort city of Ixtapa and killed his bodyguard. Suspected drug traffickers attacked a military checkpoint in the Pacific resort of Huatulco. One attacker was killed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In southern Nigeria gunmen seized four American workers overnight as violence escalated in the petroleum-producing region. South Korea's top builder Daewoo Engineering and Construction welcomed the release of its kidnapped workers in Nigeria and said the incident would not affect its lucrative business in the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Military officials from North and South Korea reached an agreement clearing the way for the first railway journeys across their heavily fortified border for half a century.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Pakistan and the Czech Republic agreed to boost diplomatic links and promote relations in trade, health and science.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, The Palestinian information minister said Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse look-alike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination. Hamas militants in Palestine had enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience, children. The show was broadcast as usual two days after the Palestinian information minister said it would be suspended.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 9, In the Philippines Ernie Tatoy (41), an aide to a gubernatorial candidate, was fatally shot and his daughter (13) wounded, as violence in the run-up to next week's local and congressional elections claimed its 100th victim in four months.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Saudi authorities beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute. Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was the second woman to be executed this year. The kingdom last beheaded two women in 2005. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in a public square.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Authorities said Somali security forces are seizing and even burning Muslim women's veils in Mogadishu to stop Islamist insurgents disguising themselves for attacks.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In northern Syria 7 people were killed and 7 were wounded when a 5-story building collapsed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in 2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was "Yes."
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Zimbabweans braced for darker days after President Robert Mugabe's government announced 20-hour daily electricity cuts for households across the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, A Zimbabwean court authorized the extradition of Briton Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinea on coup plot charges, sweeping aside concerns that he might face torture or invalid justice there.
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 10, The Democratic-controlled House, by a vote of 255-171, defeated legislation to require the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq within nine months.
(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, US congressional Democrats and the White House reached a deal on trade and labor standards.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.30)
2007 May 10, US VP Cheney arrived at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to a red carpet welcome. The vice president is on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A US federal jury in Santa Ana, Ca., convicted Chi Mak, a China-born engineer, of passing submarine data to Beijing. Mak was later sentenced to 24 1/2 years in federal prison.
(WSJ, 5/11/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa (37), a Sri Lankan national, pleaded guilty in a Maryland court to charges he tried to smuggle US weapons to Tamil Tiger rebels. He was the last of six defendants in the plot to be convicted of trying to obtain military weapons in the 2006 scheme.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Virginia the maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction. Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Afghanistan new airstrikes in the Sangin area killed 10 Taliban fighters after the insurgents ambushed a patrol. A Taliban commander said the militant group kidnapped Uruzgan governor spokesman Qayum Qayumi. 4 policemen and two more insurgents were killed when fighting erupted after a group of the extremist militants attacked a police post.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10-2007 May 11, Seven Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces were killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 10, EnGeneIC, an Australian biotechnology firm, said it had developed a means of delivering anti-cancer drugs directly to cancer cells, which aims to avoid the debilitating toxicity associated with chemotherapy.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Talks in Brussels between NATO's top generals and their Russian counterpart failed to narrow the gap between Moscow and the West over missile defense and arms control in Europe.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Brazil Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion in his first speech but avoided further suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be considered excommunicated.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Britain’s PM Tony Blair said he would step down on June 27. The Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 5.5%, the highest level since 2001, to tackle surging inflation.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, China, criticized for not pushing its close ally Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, said that it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to focus on the issue.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In southwestern Colombia A roadside bomb planted by leftist rebels killed 10 soldiers on patrol, the deadliest attack on security forces this year.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta pledged to unite troubled East Timor after the former resistance leader was elected president of one of the world's poorest nations.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Cairo Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the first high-level discussion between Israel and the Arab world on an Arab initiative calling for an exchange of land for peace.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, The armed forces of Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to step up cooperation to boost security along shared borders after successful patrols in the Malacca Strait.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, US-led forces conducted a raid in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, killing three militants as they tried to break up a cell accused of smuggling weapons from Iran to fight US forces. Iraqi police and medical officials said the airstrike damaged three houses and killed eight civilians and wounded nine others. 2 gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Iraqi military intelligence officer as he drove through Diwaniyah. Iraqi police discovered two bodies, bound, blindfolded and shot, floating in a river in Mahaweel. Two other bodies of police officers, one of them a colonel, were found in Mosul. An al-Qaida front organization posted a video showing the killings of nine Iraqi security officers who were lined up blindfolded with their hands bound behind them and shot in the back of the head. An explosion in Diyala province killed one US soldier and wounded nine others. One US soldier was killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated on their patrol in eastern Baghdad. One soldier was shot dead in combat security operations in south Baghdad. Another, from the military police, died of his wounds after being hit by gunfire in Diwaniyah.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Guillaume Soro, Ivory Coast's former rebel chief-turned Prime Minister, called for the fostering of new era ties between Africa and Europe, in line with modern developments.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his deputy. In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their vehicles and killed two police officers.
(AFP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, The Pakistani military said it has completed building a fence on a first section of its border with Afghanistan, a disputed measure designed to prevent militants from crossing the mountainous frontier.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Palestinian woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy lost her unborn baby when she was caught in crossfire between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Kamal Labwani, a Syrian dissident who was arrested after meeting with White House officials two years ago, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for contacting a foreign country and inciting attack against his country. His sentencing follows another in recent days against Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer, who received a five-year prison sentence, signaling a continuing of a crackdown by authorities against dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A land mine attack on a convoy of Somali government officials ended in the deaths of two civilians in Mogadishu. Elsewhere, two aid workers were reportedly kidnapped.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, South Africa's common law was rewritten to classify forced anal sex with a woman or girl, previously considered indecent assault, as rape.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Turkey's parliament approved a major constitutional amendment to allow the president to be elected directly by voters, a move that could fan fresh tensions between the Islamist-rooted government and secularists.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Vietnamese court sentenced 3 pro-democracy activists to prison after convicting them of spreading subversive propaganda, as the communist country continued its latest crackdown against dissent. Le Thi Cong Nhan (30), human rights lawyer, was released in 2010 after serving a 3-year sentence for advocating for a multiparty government in Internet posts. Nguyen Van Dai, a fellow lawyer who was convicted along with Nhan, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His sentence was later reduced by one year. Nguyen Bac Truyen, a member of the banned People's Democratic Party, was sentenced to four years. An appeal court three months later reduced the term by six months. Truyen was released on May 17, 2010.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 3/8/10)(AP, 5/17/10)
2007 May 11, Speaking aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf, Vice President Dick Cheney warned Iran that the US and its allies would keep it from restricting sea traffic as well as from developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 5/11/08)
2007 May 11, In California firefighters struggled to protect Avalon, Catalina island's main city, from a wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee on ferries as ash rained down like snow.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In California the high school graduation rate fell to 67%, a 10-year low, as the exit exam for basic skills was required for the first time.
(SFC, 5/12/07, p.A1)
2007 May 11, Austrian authorities said they have arrested 40 suspects and seized thousands of videos, CDs and DVDs as part of a yearlong crackdown on child pornography. Police in Italy made two arrests in connection with the investigation, which was code-named Operation Max. The server was located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and since has been shut down.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Sao Paulo Pope Benedict XVI canonized Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao (d.1822), an 18th-century Franciscan monk, as Brazil's first native-born saint. Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Gordon Brown launched his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister, pledging to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war. Tony Blair has formally endorsed Gordon Brown to be prime minister.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, British private equity group Terra Firma swooped into the aviation sector to become the world's third-biggest aircraft leasing operator, snapping up US firm Pegasus for 5.2 billion dollars.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, Local militia allied to Rwandan Hutu rebels killed four Congolese soldiers during clashes in a volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 11, Germany’s steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said it will build a new $4.19 billion steel plant in Alabama. Deutsche Telekom employees began an open-ended strike in protest at restructuring measures at Europe's biggest telecoms operator.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Authorities in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia launched a blockade of all ethnic Georgian villages in the province and demanded that the central government withdraw its police troops from the settlements.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Guinea soldiers demanding pay raises spread their revolt from Conakry, seizing control of many provincial towns, going on looting sprees and killing at least two people in the second day of an uprising in the West African nation.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, a party dominated by the lowest caste (dalits) scored a surprise win in elections, while the country's ruling and main opposition parties both lost ground. In eastern India a bus plunged nearly 30 feet into a riverbed, killing at least 20 people and injuring 12. Three Indian officials working for a South Korean steel company were taken hostage by activists who contend that the company's plan to build a plant in eastern India would displace thousands of people.
(Reuters, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.41)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, At least 31 people died as a storm hammered northern India. All the deaths were reported from the worst-hit state of Uttar Pradesh.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 11, Iran detained Kian Tajbakhsh (45), an Iranian-American working for the George Soros Open Society Institute.
(SFC, 5/24/07, p.A12)
2007 May 11, Iraq's Kurdish president said his country may need American troops for one or two more years. US-led forces targeting car bombing networks across Iraq killed four suspected insurgents and detained nine others in a series of raids. Two suicide car bombers struck police checkpoints near bridges in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people. Near Iskandariyah US snipers killed Genei Nasir al-Janabi in an effort to hide their presence. On June 30 Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley from Candler, N.C., and Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval from Laredo, Texas, were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis. A 3rd soldier Sgt. Evan Vela, of Phoenix, Idaho, was similarly charged the next day. In 2008 Sgt. Vela was found guilty on all charges.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 7/3/07)(AP, 2/10/08)
2007 May 11, Only around half of 45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction attracted bids, with foreigners wary of political uncertainty ahead of a government change.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, North and South Korea adopted a military agreement enabling the first train crossing of their heavily armed border in more than half a century.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Poland's highest court struck down the key provisions of a new law requiring that up to 700,000 Poles with public service jobs be screened for past collaboration with the communist-era secret police.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Malietoa Tanumafili II, head of state of Samoa, died at age 94-95.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.101)
2007 May 11, In southern Thailand separatist militants killed two policemen in a raid on a security checkpost, attacking it with guns and grenades before setting it ablaze with the victims inside.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Zimbabwe won approval, in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, to lead the important UN Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the US, European nations and human rights organizations. African members nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and tourism, for the post.
(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.49)
2007 May 12, Voters in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, became the first in the nation to prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants. Texas courts quickly issued a restraining order against the city to prevent the ordnance from taking effect.
(AP, 5/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.35)
2007 May 12, Joseph Rattigan (87), former California state senator and justice, died. He represented Sonoma County from 1958 to 1966. In 1966 Gov. Pat Brown appointed him to the First District Court of Appeal in SF, where he served for 18 years.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.B5)
2007 May 12, Afghan lawmakers voted to oust the foreign minister over the mishandling of the expulsion of Afghan refugees from neighboring Iran. Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's most prominent military commander, was killed in a US-led military operation in southern Afghanistan. The one-legged fighter had orchestrated ethnic massacre and a rash of beheadings. Around 55 Taliban fighters were killed in two battles near the Pakistan border.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/13/07)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, In eastern Algeria 6 armed Islamist extremists were killed in Kabylia, in clashes with the military in the run-up to legislative elections. Algeria's official news agency APS said Algerian security forces had arrested three Libyan Islamic militants planning to join al Qaeda's north African wing. Algerian soldiers killed four armed militants in a clash near the village of Ghoumrassa.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Armenia held a general election. Acting PM Serzh Sarkisian was elected prime minister.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.58)
2007 May 12, In Bolivia President Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding over ceremonies marking the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A cutter of the Dominican Republic picked up 3 men hauling in bales of cocaine dropped from a plane that had originated in Venezuela. A US plane and British helicopters took part in the seizure of a half-ton of cocaine as Colombian drug traffic via Venezuela escalated.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A17)
2007 May 12, Egyptian security forces arrested 59 Muslims in Bamha accused of setting fire to Christian homes and shops the previous day in clashes over church construction that underlined lingering sectarian tensions.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Finland Bosnia-Herzegovina opened this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Marija Serifovic from Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, early Sunday May 13, 2007 with a song entitled 'Prayer.'
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Eric Damfreville, a French aid worker, returned to France after five weeks in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan and made a plea for his captors to free three Afghans seized with him.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Guinean President Lansana Conte agreed to replace his unpopular defense minister, a key demand of soldiers leading a three-day-old military revolt.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party, called for a "security agreement" to be negotiated between Iraq and US-led forces to outline the authorities of each side in a further indication of growing frustration over America's role in Iraq. Iraq's parliament objected to the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods and called on PM Nouri al-Maliki to testify about other security issues. 4 Americans and an Iraqi interpreter were killed. 3 soldiers were captured south of Baghdad. The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. (20) of Torrance, Calif., was found a year later in the Euphrates River. The bodies of Pvt. Byron W. Fouty (19) of Waterford, Mich., and Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez (25), of Lawrence, Mass., were found in July, 2008.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/08)(AP, 7/11/08)
2007 May 12, In Italy thousands of people, including families with their children, poured into a Rome piazza to protest a government bill that would give legal rights to unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Italy security officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The leaders of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan reached a landmark pipeline deal that will strengthen Moscow's control over Central Asia's energy export routes. The deal will dramatically increase the amount of natural gas Russia moves from Central Asia to Europe.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Mexico a severed head accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime gangs and two hand grenades was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz state.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A pregnant Nicaraguan teenager (17) shot Kenneth A. Kinzel (53), her American lover, and enlisted her siblings to help dismember the body. She shot her live-in boyfriend because he threatened to kill her.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 12, In Nigeria Lora Kabir, a Russian woman, set off with 50 volunteers on a 225-kilometer (140-mile) walk from polio-endemic Nigeria's most populous city Kano to raise public awareness among parents of the dangers of polio.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Gunbattles and attacks killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens as Pakistan's political crisis descended into violence between rival parties over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Waves reaching 36 feet high thrashed France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, leaving two fishermen missing and flooding homes and hotels.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Russia said that it could not accept elements of a draft UN resolution on Kosovo worked out by the US and EU nations, maintaining its strong opposition to a Western-backed plan for the Serbian province's independence.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and gifts blasted off en route to the international space station.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The UN top humanitarian official made a landmark visit to Mogadishu, but the trip was disrupted by an explosion that killed four people near the UN compound. John Holmes said he had come to push the government to allow humanitarian aid to reach its people.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A South Korean cargo vessel sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in waters off northeast China. 16 crew were on board the 3,800-ton Golden Rose when it sank. The crew of the Chinese ship, the 4,800-ton JinSheng, were unharmed and returned safely to Dalian.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang resigned, days after he was defeated in the ruling party's presidential primary.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In the Turkish port city of Izmir a bicycle bomb exploded in a market, killing one and injuring 14 people on the eve of a planned mass anti-government rally.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Yemen said it was recalling its ambassadors to Iran and Libya over what it sees as their support for Shi'ite Muslim rebels involved in bloody clashes with government forces. The government of Sunni-dominated Yemen accused the rebels of seeking to oust its secular administration and install Islamist rule.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, President Bush made a pilgrimage to the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia to mark the 400th anniversary of its founding.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, The US said it is willing to talk to Iran if discussions deal only with Iraq, where the Bush administration says Tehran is undermining the Baghdad government and exporting deadly roadside bombs. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said that Tehran has agreed to a formal request from the US to talk about security in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak toward the end of a regional tour, focusing on ways to stem chaos in Iraq and on Iran's impact on security in the Gulf.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A mother humpback whale and her calf were spotted in the Sacramento River. They reached close to Sacramento before turning around back to SF Bay as thousands watched media marked their wayward progress. On May 29 the pair reached SF Bay and the next day were spotted outside the Golden Gate.
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.B1)
2007 May 13, In Afghanistan 9 policemen lost their lives in fresh attacks. Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire at their rugged border in their most serious skirmish in years. Pakistan claimed it killed six Afghan soldiers, but Afghanistan said just two Afghan civilians were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Al Qaeda-linked Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a bomb killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Australia’s PM John Howard said the Australian government has banned the country's cricket team from touring Zimbabwe in September because he does not want to support the regime of a "grubby dictator."
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Canada won hockey's world championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI held an inaugural mass for the 5th conference of bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean. This brought together 166 bishops to discuss the church's situation in the region, home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.47)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its generic drugs division to the US group Mylan Laboratories for 4.9 billion euros (6.6 billion dollars).
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Icelandic PM Geir Haarde's centre-right Independence Party came out on top in weekend general elections but it was unclear if his coalition government will stay in power.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Iran confirmed that it has detained Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American academic. A hardline newspaper accused her of spying for the United States and Israel and trying to start a revolution inside Iran.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A suicide truck bomber crashed into the offices of a Kurdish political party, killing at least 50 people, including the police chief, and wounding scores. Another bombing at a market in Baghdad killing at least 17 people and wounding 46. Iraqi gunmen drove into the Diyala capital of Baqouba, pulled two handcuffed men out of the trunk and shot them to death, one in view of a bustling market and the other near a movie theater. Three other civilians also were killed execution-style in a market in the city center. Five civilians were killed execution style on the streets of Baquoba by gunmen who appeared to be accusing them of collaborating with the US-led coalition. Gunmen apparently disguised as Iraqi soldiers broke into the house of a Sunni family at the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, killing two men and wounding four others, included a 6-year-old child. In all at least 126 people were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, A Jamaican newspaper reported that Scotland Yard investigators have concluded that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not strangled as local police have said.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Nigeria's central labor union called for a two-day mass protest against last month's elections, which have been roundly criticized by both local and foreign observers for fraud. In southern Nigeria at least 30 people were killed when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on a road.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Pro-government and opposition groups blamed each other for Pakistan's worst political violence in years, as new riots broke out and the toll from street battles in Karachi rose to 41 dead and over 150 wounded.
(AP, 5/13/07)(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, Fighting between Palestinian faction of Hamas and Fatah left 4 people dead in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A7)
2007 May 13, A Serbian ultranationalist resigned as parliament speaker after only five days in the post, averting immediate fears that the country was returning to its warmongering past.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a group of Sri Lankan soldiers who had crossed into insurgent territory in the north, sparking a battle that left 7 guerrillas and a soldier dead.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, One of Switzerland's central bankers said further increases in Swiss interest rates are still on the cards, while also praising the management of the euro currency.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A Syrian court sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most respected writers, to prison terms as part of President's Bashar Assad's latest crack down on dissent.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Hundreds of thousands of Turks streamed into this port city of Izmir in an enormous show of opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, saying it threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, Pres. Bush ordered up new rules aimed at increasing automobile fuel efficiency and the use of alternative fuels.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, The trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened in Miami. Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted in August, 2007, of terrorism conspiracy; Padilla was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2007 May 14, The cost of first-class US letters went up 2 cents to 41 cents.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Endemol, the brains behind reality television shows like "Big Brother", fell into the hands of a consortium led by Italy's Mediaset which is looking to branch out of the saturated Italian television market.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Charles Y. Lazarus (b.1914), the last of four generations to run the iconic Federated Dept. store in Columbus, Ohio, died in Columbus.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Lazarus)
2007 May 14, Algerian troops, stepping up assaults on al Qaeda's north African wing after suicide bombings last month, killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, An Australian teenager was awarded record damages including a lifetime income after a court found that his life had been ruined by bullying at primary school. Australian authorities said they want to shoot more than 3,000 kangaroos on the fringes of Canberra, noting the animals were growing in population and eating through the grassy habitats of endangered species.
(AFP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome after telling Brazilians a growing rich-poor gap is to be lamented, but that the solution isn’t Marxism.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, In the Central African Republic the president's office said several former armed rebels have surrendered to the authorities over the past few days in the troubled north.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, In Colombia judicial authorities ordered the arrest of 20 politicians and business leaders, including five congressmen, on criminal conspiracy charges for signing a 2001 pact with illegal right-wing militias. In the biggest shake-up in years of the security forces, Colombia's police chief and the head of police intelligence were forced to retire as the government alleged that police illegally tapped calls of opposition political figures, journalists and members of the government for the past two years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, Gangs torched houses and fought in East Timor, injuring around 14 people, as violence broke out following the nation's presidential elections.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers gave the green light for a 40-million euro aid package to the African Union peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers decided to drop a visa ban against four Uzbek officials, while extending other sanctions against the Central Asian nation imposed after a crackdown on an uprising in 2005.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, German-based DaimlerChrysler said it will sell almost all of money-losing Chrysler to Cerberus, a private equity firm, for $7.4 billion, backing out of a troubled 1998 takeover aimed at creating a global automotive powerhouse. John Snow, former US treasury secretary, served as chairman of Cerberus.
(AP, 5/14/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.67)
2007 May 14, In India Dr. Binayak Sen (b.1950), a human rights activist, was arrested for conspiring with Naxalites in Chhattisgarh state. He was charged with carrying messages to the Maoist insurgents.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binayak_Sen)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.48)(Econ, 1/29/11, p.41)
2007 May 14, In western India a gas tanker, truck and bus collided, sparking a fire that engulfed the three vehicles and killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Iraqi and US forces also exchanged fire with gunmen near Youssifiyah during the house-to-house search operation for 3 missing American soldiers, killing two suspected insurgents and injuring four others. Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in Baqouba killing three policemen and two civilians. Mortar rounds struck an outdoor market in Baghdad killing 3 people. In Suwayrah police dragged two unidentified, bullet-riddled bodies of a man and a women in their 40s from the Tigris River. A roadside bomb near the southern city of Basra also killed one Danish soldier and wounded five. 2 US soldiers on a foot patrol southeast of Baghdad were shot to death. Five US troops were killed in attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas, while another soldier died of non-combat related causes.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Lebanon's prime minister asked the UN Security Council to impose an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on economic cooperation.
(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)
2007 May 14, In Mexico City gunmen fatally shot Jose Nemesio Lugo, Mexico’s new federal narcotics intelligence chief, as he was on his way to work at the Attorney General's Office.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, Nearly 60 former heads of state, including three ex-American presidents, demanded that Myanmar's military regime release Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In southern Nigeria's Rivers State unidentified gunmen snatched a Nigerian working for Italian oil giant Agip.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Pakistan militants opened fire on a group of US, Afghan and Pakistani military officials meeting near the Afghan border, killing one American and a Pakistani soldier. In 2011 it was reported that a Pakistani soldier had opened fire with an automatic rifle, pumping multiple rounds from just 5 or 10 yards away into American officer, Maj. Larry J. Bauguess Jr., (36) killing him almost instantly. Separately Karachi storefronts were shuttered and the streets of the commercial hub emptied of cars on as residents angry over a weekend of deadly political violence honored a general strike called amid growing discontent over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's ouster of the chief justice.
(AP, 5/14/07)(http://tinyurl.com/3hyzgoo)
2007 May 14, The Palestinian interior minister resigned, accusing Hamas and Fatah leaders of thwarting his efforts to halt new violence that is threatening the survival of the Palestinian coalition government.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Filipinos braved the threat of violence to choose local and congressional representatives in elections. Wahab Akbar, governor of Basilan, was elected congressman from Basilan. His 1st wife, Jum, was elected to become governor of Basilan. His 2nd wife Cherrylyn was already mayor of Isabela City.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.F1)
2007 May 14, In South Africa deputies and experts attending the Pan African Parliament called for Western countries to help reverse the environmental damage to the continent that they had helped create.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Russia 10 people were found dead after a fire swept through a cafe in Orsk near the border with Kazakhstan. Prosecutors indicated they suspect arson.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian named his sixth premier in seven years amid paralysis in the island's relations with rival China and gridlock in its deeply divided legislature. The World Health Organization rejected Taiwan's bid for membership after Chinese officials accused the island of trying to strengthen its claim to sovereignty.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Tunisia Sfax port officials said the Tunisian coastguard had rescued 35 African would-be immigrants who were trying to sail to Italy from the Libyan coast. More than 1,000 people have landed on Spanish or Italian territory since May 10.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 15, Kenny Chesney collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy from the Academy of Country Music.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, Pres. Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as a new White House War Czar. At least 5 four-star generals had turned the offer down.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.A7)
2007 May 15, The US military said former Guantanamo detainees have organized a jailbreak in Afghanistan, kidnapped Chinese engineers and taken leadership positions with the Taliban. In southern Afghanistan at least 11 suspected Taliban and possibly dozens more were killed by airstrikes on Taliban compounds in the Zhari district of Kandahar province.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Associated Press reported that many VA officials who got hefty bonuses last year sat on the boards that recommended the payments.
(WSJ, 5/16/07, p.A1)
2007 May 15, Voters in southern Oregon’s Jackson County defeated a property tax measure to prop up the county’s 15 public libraries.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A5)
2007 May 15, Reuters agreed to a $17.2 billion takeover by Thomson of Canada that would vault the combined entity ahead of Bloomberg to become the world's largest financial data and news provider.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Tyco Int’l. said it has agreed to pay almost $3 billion to settle class-action suits brought by investors in the largest payment ever by a company in such a suit.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.C1)
2007 May 15, The Rev. Jerry Falwell (73), the television minister whose 1979 founding of the Moral Majority galvanized American religious conservatives into a political force, died.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Karen Hess (88), culinary historian and author, died in NYC. Her books included “The Taste of America" (1977), which sounded an alarm for more healthful eating.
(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B5)
2007 May 15, Argentine commuters in Buenos Aires enraged by delays in evening train service set fire to parts of a railroad station, looted nearby shops and clashed with riot police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazil will push to improve working conditions for sugarcane cutters who harvest most of the cane that is turned into ethanol for the nation's booming biofuel industry. A jury voted 5-2 to convict rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura of masterminding the shooting of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, an American nun and rain forest defender on Feb. 12, 2005, in a case seen as an important test of justice in the largely lawless Amazon region. This ruling was overturned in 2008 after the man who confessed to shooting Stang recanted earlier testimony, insisting that he'd acted alone. Gunman Rayfran das Neves Sales was sentenced to 28 years in prison. In 2009 Para state's top court reversed the 2008 not-guilty verdict for Vitalmiro Moura on a technicality.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 4/7/09)
2007 May 15, PM Bertie Ahern became the first Irish leader to address the joint houses of the British Parliament.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, In Denmark hundreds of black-clad youths clashed with police in Copenhagen, barricading streets and setting fire to cars to protest the demolition of a building in the free-wheeling Christiania district.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Mohammed Sayed Saber (35). an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel praised the Jewish state for its advanced technology and claimed documents he passed on were so outdated they posed no threat to Egypt's security.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In India separatist rebels fatally shot six migrant workers in northeastern Assam state. At the heart of the violence is simmering resentment by Assam's indigenous people, most of whom are ethnically closer to people in Myanmar and China than India, against the federal government in New Delhi, some 1,000 miles to the west, and ethnic Indians who have migrated to the state over the centuries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Gulf Arab neighbors to send experts to inspect his country's nuclear power plant, in an apparent effort to ease fears over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Iraq’s Diyala province about 50 suspected insurgents attacked a village north of Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 14. Two bombs hidden in plastic bags exploded in shops in central Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 17. A parked car bomb exploded near a market in a Shiite enclave northeast of the capital, killing at least 32 people and wounding 50. Hospital officials and wounded victims said chlorine gas may have been used in the attack, but police denied that.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A top Mexican anti-drug official said the US must do more to stop weapons from being smuggled into the hands of drug traffickers who are using them to kill Mexican soldiers and police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Royal Dutch Shell Plc. said protestors have occupied an oil facility in southern Nigeria forcing daily production cuts of 170,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Pakistan a suicide bomber with a warning to spies for America taped to his leg attacked a crowded restaurant in Peshawar near the Afghan border, killing at least 25 people days after a relative of the Taliban's slain commander was arrested there.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Hamas gunmen ambushed rival Fatah forces near a key crossing along the Israeli border, killing eight people in the deadliest battle yet in three days of factional fighting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, International observers of elections in the Philippines said they witnessed threats and vote-buying inside some southern precincts, and police said two more people were killed in violence related to the voting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Russia's top AIDS specialist said Russia's AIDS epidemic is worsening with as many as 1.3 million people infected with HIV as the virus spreads further into the heterosexual population.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Serbia's parliament approved a new pro-democracy government, overcoming efforts by anti-Western ultranationalists to derail the vote and force new elections.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A Spanish anesthesiologist with hepatitis C was sentenced to prison for infecting 275 people with the virus by injecting them with morphine from the same needles he used to feed his own addiction. Juan Maeso (65) was sentenced to 1,933 years in prison. The most he can serve under Spanish law is 20 years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Venezuela’s health minister said Venezuela will impose a limited smoking ban in bars and restaurants but has no plans to halt the production of cigarettes and tobacco.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Vietnam Tran Quoc Hien, a trade union organizer and member of Bloc 8406, became the 6th democracy campaigner to be imprisoned within a week.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)
2007 May 15, In Zimbabwe a spokesman said dozens of doctors at four of the largest state hospitals have gone on strike to demand higher pay.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, Anti-war Democrats in the US Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, British PM Tony Blair paid a farewell visit to President Bush at the White House.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, Paul Wolfowitz began to negotiate the terms under which he would resign from the World Bank.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, The DJIA rose 103.69 to a record 13,487.53. Nasdaq rose 22.13 to 2,547.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.C1)
2007 May 16, The journal Nature said that a bird count had found common US species, like robins, crows and bluebirds, in sharp decline due to West Nile virus. A US Geological survey in June found that populations of 20 common American bird species have dropped by half in the last 40 years.
(WSJ, 5/17/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/07, p.A11)
2007 May 16, In Algeria bombs killed a police officer and wounded five other people on the eve of parliamentary elections, prompting fears of renewed Islamist extremism.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, British army chief of staff, announced that Prince Harry would not go to Iraq because of "specific threats" to his life that would expose the prince and his fellow soldiers to unacceptable risk. The prince did end up serving in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, until word of his deployment got out.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, In Canada some 3,200 track workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. began a national strike over failed talks on wages and other issues.
(Reuters, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, went on trial accused of taking bribes to approve untested medicine, including an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market. Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety. He was expelled earlier this year from the ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northern Colombia Diana Patricia Pena (36) was abducted by armed men with her husband, Roland Erik Larson (68), at their farm. Pena soon escaped but Larson was still missing.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 16, Following a six-decade wait, Estonia's 3,000-strong Jewish community inaugurated its new and only synagogue in Tallinn in the presence of top Israeli dignitaries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy took office as France's president.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Haiti gunmen killed journalist Alix Joseph (38), shooting him 11 times outside his fiancé’s house.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 16, Indian company United Spirits bought Scottish liquor maker Whyte and Mackay for more than one billion dollars, emphasizing India's growing economic clout abroad.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In southern Iraq clashes broke out in the mostly Shiite city of Nasiriyah, when a militia fought with police there after they arrested two wanted militia members, police said. Nine Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded. At least nine apparent mortar rounds slammed into the US-controlled Green Zone, wounding at least six people, the second such attack in as many days.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris approved a decision to open accession discussions with Israel.
(Econ, 4/5/08, SR p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/2h2frt)
2007 May 16, An Israeli helicopter launched missiles at a Hamas command center in the southern Gaza Strip, after Hamas fired rocket barrages into Israel in an apparent attempt to draw Israel into increasingly violent Palestinian infighting. At least 19 people were killed in factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas.
(AP, 5/16/07)(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A12)
2007 May 16, Japanese officials said the landlocked nation of Laos has agreed to join the International Whaling Commission at Japan's request and is highly likely to support Tokyo's high-profile pro-whaling campaign.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed limited political reforms in the oil-rich country he has headed since the Soviet era, including shortening the presidential term from seven years to five and strengthening the powers of parliament.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Mexico over 40 armed men abducted and killed 4 police officers south of the Arizona border.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, Thomas Frank White, a US businessman, was convicted of raping a teenage boy and sentenced to more than 7 years in jail in Mexico. White, who founded the brokerage firm Thomas White & Co. in 1978, was arrested in Thailand in 2003 at the behest of Mexican officials and later extradited.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nigerian militants used dynamite to blow up a home of vice president-elect Goodluck Jonathan, killing two police officers.
(AFP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Pakistan suspected pro-Taliban militants firing mortars and machine guns attacked a police checkpoint, and at least five civilians were killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond was elected to become first minister of the devolved Edinburgh parliament, after the pro-independence party's historic election victory this month.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Somalia a roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying African Union peacekeepers, killing four Ugandan peacekeepers in one of the deadliest attacks on the troops since they arrived in March.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend its peacekeeping mission in Congo until the end of the year while calling for a timetable to gradually withdraw the nearly 18,000-member force.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, President Bush and retiring British PM Tony Blair held a joint news conference at the White House, during which Blair allowed not a single regret about the Iraq war alliance.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2007 May 17, The US White House and key lawmakers agreed on a sweeping immigration plan to grant legal status to millions of people in the country unlawfully.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US lawmakers branded China and Russia the world's two biggest copyright thieves.
(Reuters, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US Navy lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz (41) was convicted in military court of communicating secret information that could be used to injure the US. Diaz had given a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A7)
2007 May 17, Paul Wolfowitz announced that he was stepping down soon as World Bank chief. This marked yet another blow for US President George W. Bush as his Republican administration nears its end.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, It was reported that Chris Cohan, owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, faced tax evasion charges by the IRS for potentially abusive tax shelters used when he sold Sonic Communications in 1998 for $200 million.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, In Oakland, Ca., a mother and daughter were kidnapped and tortured by men associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery. Yusuf Bey IV, the group’s leader, believed the women could reveal where a local drug dealer kept his money. In October Richard Lewis (23), aka Rakeem Kahlil Bey, was arrested for his role in the kidnap-torture. On April 7, 2010, Lewis was convicted of kidnapping, carjacking and torture. In 2014 a state appeals court overturned the conviction and life sentence of Lewis, entitling him to a new trial.
(SFC, 10/18/07, p.B1)(SFC, 4/8/10, p.C3)(SSFC, 2/2/14, p.C2)
2007 May 17, The journal "Science" reported that Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, a crucial "carbon sink" into which 15 percent of the world's excess carbon dioxide flows, is reaching saturation and soon may be unable to absorb more , a deeply troubling development.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In southern Afghanistan 2 coordinated bomb blasts killed seven people, including three police responding to the first explosion. In western Afghanistan airstrikes in Farah province targeted a convoy of suspected Taliban militants who had left a meeting, killing 14 and wounding 10. In Kandahar a suicide car bomber rammed a government convoy, killing three bystanders and wounding Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khurram.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, Algerians, shaken by al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings and dealing with a tough economy, slowly trickled to vote in legislative elections under tight police security.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Argentina leftist union members shut down the Buenos Aires subway system with a one-day strike, causing huge traffic jams as commuters drove, packed buses or struggled to hail taxis.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Greyhound Canada suspended passenger and parcel service in Western Canada because of a labor disruption.
(Reuters, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, A Colombian warlord, accused of spearheading civilian massacres, claimed that some US companies who buy Colombia's bananas had made regular payments to his illegal right-wing militias.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Estonia's defense minister said that the massive cyber attacks that have crippled the high-tech country's Web sites are a threat to national security, and that it's possible the Russian government was behind them.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.65)(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The World Bank said that it and the European Commission and six other donors have committed $780 million to support basic services and transparency in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy named Francois Fillon (53), a Gaullist former social affairs minister, to be his prime minister.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A3)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.56)
2007 May 17, Across Iraq at least 58 Iraqis were killed or found dead in bombings, shootings and mortar attacks. They included 42 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads. Three American soldiers were killed and another was wounded in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad. Mortar rounds hit a US Air Force base north of Baghdad, destroying one helicopter and damaging nine others.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas command center, a trailer housing bodyguards and two vehicles, citing the firing by militants of more than 50 rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot over three days.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In central Japan a man went on a shooting rampage in his home, killing a policeman, wounding three other people, including his son and daughter, and taking his wife hostage.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The first trains since 1953 traversed the Korean DMZ in a peace gesture.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, Mexican police chased the remnants of a criminal assault force through the mountains of Sonora near the Arizona border after kidnappings and gunbattles that left at least 22 people dead.
(AP, 5/17/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.45)
2007 May 17, Moroccan police clashed with student protestors from Western Sahara demanding an end to Rabat's control over the disputed region.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Nicaraguan said it has re-established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea and rejected criticism of the Asian country's nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Nigeria labor leaders called a two-day nationwide strike coinciding with the May 29 inauguration of the new government to protest what they said was a fraudulent election.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Russia filed a suit against the Bank of New York for $22.5 billion for its role in a money laundering scheme that was broken up by US authorities in 1999.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A3)
2007 May 17, Russian Orthodox leaders signed a pact to heal an 80-year schism between the church in Russia and an offshoot, the Church Abroad, set up following the Bolshevik Revolution. At least 10 of 145 Church Abroad parishes in the US opposed the canonical union. Most of the New York-based Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) agreed to unite with the Patriarchate of Moscow.
(AP, 5/17/07)(WSJ, 1/18/07, p.A12)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.69)
2007 May 17, In Sri Lanka said security forces had shot dead at least 20 Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka in a fresh outbreak of fighting.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Ukraine Petro Balabuyev (75), a lead designer of the world's largest aircraft, the An-225, died.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Analysts warned that a new pricing law approved by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, as inflation exceeded 3,700%, could worsen rather than relieve widespread shortages and price rises.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for US troops to leave.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2007 May 18, US federal prosecutors asked a judge to immediately freeze the assets of former Qwest Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio, who was convicted last month of making $52 million from insider trading.
(Reuters, 5/20/07)
2007 May 18, In New Jersey a second rainstorm in three days soaked a forest fire and raised hopes that it could be brought under full control by day's end. New Jersey Air National Guard officials said one of their F-16s dropped a flare into the tinder-dry Pinelands during a training mission May 15, possibly starting the blaze.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Deep-sea explorers of Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration said they have mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed shipwreck off England. The estimated value was $500 million.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Microsoft agreed to buy online-ad specialist aQuantive for $6 billion, the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Roy De Forest (77), prominent SF Bay Area painter, died.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.B7)
2007 May 18, The Taliban said it had arrested a close aide to the rebel movement's slain commander Mullah Dadullah for treachery that led to his killing. Soldiers from the Afghan army and a coalition led by the US killed 67 Taliban in an ambush in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.
(AFP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, Algeria’s Interior Ministry announced that the National Liberation Front party, which has dominated Algerian political life since independence in 1962, kept its leading position in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, A group of 88 Burundians who have lived as refugees in neighboring Tanzania for up to 35 years became the first of some 8,500 to head to the US for a new life.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, UN officials said rebel leaders in the Central African Republic have agreed to begin sending several hundred child soldiers home to their families.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, China took steps to let its currency appreciate faster against the dollar and to cool its sizzling economy ahead of what are expected to contentious talks in Washington over Beijing's soaring trade surplus.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Alvaro Uribe lashed out at US lawmakers for treating Colombia like a "pariah" by refusing to pass a trade agreement amid a scandal linking his government to murderous right-wing paramilitaries.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Ethiopia 3 Swedish citizens were released after spending five months in jail. The three were among dozens of foreigners detained earlier this year as terror suspects.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, French President Nicolas Sarkozy named his first Cabinet, radically revamping the government, which included seven women among its 15 members. Bernard Kouchner, former UN administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, was named foreign minister.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Haitian President Rene Preval declared a "war without end" against corruption, calling crooked state officials traitors who rob the deeply impoverished nation of vital investment and jobs.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In India a bomb attack at the 17th-century Mecca Majid, the main mosque in Hyderabad, killed 13 people. Two other unexploded bombs were found and defused by police. Ensuing clashes with police left five more dead. A serial killer who has been leaving headless torsos outside the Indian capital's jail for more than a year, allegedly in revenge for wrongful imprisonment, struck again. This was the fourth time since December 2005 that a torso had been left in a sack outside the Tihar Jail.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AP, 5/19/07)(WSJ, 11/28/08, p.A6)
2007 May 18, About 50 suspected insurgents attacked a US base in the center of Baqouba, sparking a battle with US soldiers and helicopters that left at least six militants dead. In Baghdad two Iraqi journalists working for ABC News were slain as they drove home from work. A suicide car bomber hit a police patrol in the Sunni-dominated town of Jurf al-Sakhar, killing three officers and wounding two. In Kirkuk drive-by shooters killed an Iraqi army officer as he was heading to work. A 24-hour curfew remained in place in Mosul for a third day. It was imposed after insurgents used five suicide vehicle bombs, mortars and small arms fire to destroy two bridges and attack a police station and a jail where suspected insurgents were being held. The attacks killed 15 insurgents, 10 Iraqi policemen, one Iraqi soldier and one civilian. US forces on a raid in northern Baghdad killed Azhar al-Dulaimi, a Shiite militant believed to have masterminded a brazen January attack in Karbala that led to the capture and killing of four US soldiers. 7 US soldiers died in Iraq; 3 were killed when their vehicle was bit by a bomb northeast of Baghdad, one in the western province of Anbar, one by small arms fire south of the capital and two by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in northwestern Baghdad.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 18, Israel pounded more Hamas targets with airstrikes for a 2nd day, killing four Palestinians. 10 people have died with dozens wounded as it stepped deeper into fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah fighters of President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Japan a former gangster surrendered after a shooting rampage at his home that left one policeman dead and three other people, including his son and daughter, injured.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Jordan's King Abdullah II made a new attempt to rally Mideast peace efforts as he hosted politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum. Politicians attending the forum warned of a bleak future for the Mideast if its explosive tensions are not resolved.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Kazakhstan's veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was in effect declared president-for-life in a move condemned by the nation's opposition as undemocratic.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In the Netherlands a 400-pound gorilla escaped from his enclosure and ran amok in a Rotterdam zoo, biting one woman, dragging her around, and causing panic among dozens of visitors before he was finally subdued.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf acknowledged that Islamic militancy was increasing across Pakistan and said tough measures were needed to counter it, as religious students from a pro-Taliban mosque abducted four police officers. Musharraf said that he would not allow his two primary political opponents to come back to Pakistan before elections, slated for this year. Dozens of gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying 8 government officials and kidnapped them in North Waziristan. Saud Memon (44), owner of the shed and land outside Karachi where the body of Daniel Pearl was found, died. Memon was found lying unconscious outside his house on April 28.
(AP, 5/19/07)(SFC, 5/19/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/21/07, p.A6)
2007 May 18, In southern Peru a backpack containing dynamite and nails exploded during a celebration in a market in Juliaca, killing six people and wounding 48.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, A powerful bomb ripped through a teeming bus terminal in the violence-prone southern Philippines, killing a 5-year-old boy and injuring about three dozen other people.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Russia EU leaders criticized Russia's human rights record, and were faulted in return, at the end of a summit that produced no formal agreements but helped illustrate the widening political chasm between Moscow and the West. Russia barred activists, including chess grandmaster Kasparov, from protests near the Volga summit.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, The UN accused Sudan government forces of direct involvement in recent machine-gunning of Darfur villages that left at least 100 dead.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 19, Curlin nipped Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense to win the Preakness Stakes.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2007 May 19, In San Francisco Scott Chris Thomas attacked Loren Schaller (15) with a knife at a Twin Peaks bakery. In 2010 a jury convicted Schaller (29) of attempted murder and mayhem. On Aug 5 Thomas was sentenced to at least 26 years in prison.
(SFC, 3/3/10, p.C2)(SFC, 8/6/10, p.C2)
2007 May 19, In northern Afghanistan a suicide attacker detonated himself next to German soldiers shopping in a crowded market in Kunduz, killing 3 German soldiers and 6 Afghan civilians with 16 people wounded. A district police chief and a bodyguard were killed in a bomb blast in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Algerian official news reported that security forces had dismantled a suspected support network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the capital that killed 30 people.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Two local health workers were kidnapped for ransom in the Central African Republic (CAR), prompting UN concerns that worsening security was hampering aid work there.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 19, China’s state media said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained. The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province. In southern China thousands of farmers rioted at a government office in Shabi township, Guangxi region, after authorities imposed heavy fines on families that had more children than allowed under the country's family planning policy.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 19, The ruler of Dubai launched a $10 billion foundation to provide scholarships and promote research in the Middle East, saying the region has neglected education despite its oil wealth.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Police arrested 14 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood as part of Egypt's ongoing campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, In Germany G8 finance ministers from the world's richest nations sought ways to improve financial management in Africa and were asked to scold China for lending too freely to African countries.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered a village east of Baghdad, rousted families from their homes and opened fire on the men, killing 15 men and one woman. Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army traded gunfire with Iraqi soldiers in southwestern Baghdad's Baiyaa district, killing one of the soldiers. In Tikrit police received the bodies of seven men killed in clashes the night before in Samarra. Outgoing British PM Tony Blair arrived in Baghdad on a farewell visit, and three mortar shells or rockets slammed into the Green Zone where he met with Iraq's leaders. One US soldier died from a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. Six American soldiers and their translator died in a bombing in western Baghdad. Another US soldier was killed and two were wounded when a blast struck their vehicle near Diwaniyah. At least one US soldier was killed and four wounded as insurgents attacked the searchers for 3 missing comrades with guns, mortars and bombs.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Japan's state and navy police raided a Japanese naval academy over an alleged leak of sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the US.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Assailants shot dead a police commander in a wealthy Monterrey suburb, the latest in a wave of killings of law enforcement officials across Mexico.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In southern Nigeria gunmen dynamited the front gate of a residential compound and kidnapped three Indians in an attack that left one Nigerian dead.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Islamabad hardline clerics holding four Pakistani police at a mosque won the release of four extremists after a tense day-long stand-off between armed police and baton-wielding students.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Gaza negotiators from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements reached a new cease-fire deal.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Romanians voted on whether to impeach President Traian Basescu, who has been accused of violating the constitution but remains popular among the public. Basescu, suspended on grounds he abused power, easily survived a referendum on his impeachment, with partial results indicating about three-fourths of the votes supporting the leader.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, German Gref, Russia’s Economy Minister, told reporters that Russia will not allow indebted state companies to default. It was reported that more than a half-dozen journalists with the Russian News Service, have resigned to protest the new pro-Kremlin management's policy that at least 50 percent of coverage must be positive.
(Reuters, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Miroslav Deronjic (52), Bosnian Serb war criminal, died in a hospital in Sweden. Deronjic, the top authority in the eastern Bosnian city of Bratunac during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, was convicted of ordering a 1992 attack on a Bosnian village in which 65 civilians were killed. He had been serving a 10-year sentence for war crimes.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched to support a TV station aligned with opponents of President Hugo Chavez, whose government plans to kick the channel off the air next week by not renewing its license.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 20, President Bush welcomed NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to his Crawford, Texas, ranch, to review strategy on a flurry of issues.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2007 May 20, It was reported that the US continued to pay Pakistan some $1 billion a year in reimbursements for military counterterrorism efforts along the Afghan border. Over the last 5 years Pakistan has received $5.6 billion. Payments averaged $80 million a month.
(SSFC, 5/20/07, p.A6)
2007 May 20, In Idaho law enforcement officers stormed a church in Moscow where Jason Hamilton (36) went after wounding three in a courthouse ambush where he faced mental evaluation. Hamilton killed his wife at home and sexton Paul Bauer at the church before taking his own life. An officer who was shot responding to a gunman spraying bullets at a courthouse died of his injuries.
(AP, 5/20/07)(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A5)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A3)
2007 May 20, San Francisco’s 96th annual Bay to Breakers race drew some 60,000 runners. Joe Spinale (53) died of a heart attack after crossing the finish line.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B1)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B2)
2007 May 20, Alltel Corp., the fifth-biggest US wireless company and owner of the nation's largest geographic network, announced that it had signed an agreement to be acquired by TPG Capital, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and GS Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs in a deal worth $27.5 billion.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide bomber on foot detonated himself in a crowded market just after a US convoy drove by, killing at least 14 people and wounding 31. Suspected insurgents ambushed a US-led coalition and Afghan patrol, sparking a battle and airstrikes that killed 25 suspected insurgents in Helmand province. A suicide bomber walked into a crowded market in the eastern city of Gardez and blew himself up, killing 14 people and wounding 31. In eastern Nangarhar province, a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in the district of Dara-I-Nur, killing two policemen and wounding seven others. A British soldier died of wounds from an accident at a British military base in Sangin.
(AP, 5/20/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Confessed Australian al-Qaida supporter David Hicks was transferred to a maximum security prison in his hometown after spending more than five years at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Fiona Dawson, managing director of the Mars snack food business in Britain, apologized for a widely mocked decision to use animal products in chocolate bars and said in future its candy would be suitable for vegetarians.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, An exit poll showed that Bulgaria's ruling Socialist party won the country's first elections for the European Parliament with 23.9% of votes, despite voter frustration with rampant corruption and poverty.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, China’s state press said that pollution and the excessive use of chemicals in foodstuffs are sending national cancer rates soaring. 20 Chinese women were killed and 4 injured when a 3-wheeled tractor overturned on a mountain road in northern Liaoning province.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in as East Timor's president as violence erupted in the capital between rival groups, leaving one person dead.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Guram Sharadze (67), the leader of a Georgian opposition movement, was gunned down on a street in a central part of the capital, Tbilisi.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Germany engineering concern Siemens said Peter Loescher, from US pharmaceutical giant Merck, will take over as chief executive from July 1.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hungary’s PM Ferenc Gyurcsany said that the justice minister resigned and the national and Budapest police chiefs were dismissed in an effort to restore public confidence in the force after cases accusing officers of rape, corruption and theft.
(AP, 5/21/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.51)
2007 May 20, A suicide bomber exploded a tanker truck near an Iraqi police checkpoint outside a market west of Baghdad, killing at least two officers and injuring nine people. A bomb planted under a parked car exploded in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Bab al-Sharji, near the Zahraa Shiite mosque. The blast killed two civilians, wounded 10. A mortar shell landed in a commercial area in central Baghdad, killing one person and wounding three.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said his government would offer a counterproposal to an Arab peace initiative to resolve the conflict with Palestinians. Israeli warplanes fired missiles into a car carrying Hamas militants and a load of weapons, killing 3 people, and also demolished arms factories of 2 Palestinian militant groups.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Kenya 6 men were beheaded over the weekend in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. This came weeks after members of the Mungiki sect fought with the police over control of minibus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers. 7 people were soon arrested in connection with the beheadings.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 20, Kuwait broke ranks with the US dollar and decided to track a basket of currencies. It was estimated that the dollar still accounted for 70% of the basket.
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.75)(http://tinyurl.com/2wojz3)
2007 May 20, Lebanese tanks pounded a militant group's headquarters in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli after the northern city's worst clashes in two decades killed 13 soldiers and 17 militants. The raid that triggered the clashes was part of a police search for suspects in a bank robbery a day earlier in Amyoun, a town southeast of Tripoli. Gunmen of the radical jihadist faction known as Fatah al-Islam made off with $125,000 in cash in the robbery. The siege lasted 106 days leaving 47 civilians, 167 Lebanese soldiers and some 287 guerrillas dead.
(AP, 5/20/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.47)(Econ, 5/10/08, p.57)
2007 May 20, Police in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara arrested three leading human rights campaigners following weeks of crackdowns against students and activists in the territory.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Officials said Nigeria's largest state has sued US drug firm Pfizer for allegedly using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to multiple deaths and deformities. In 2010 a leaked WikiLeaks cable said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against Nigeria’s former attorney general Michael Aondoakaa to persuade him to drop legal action over the company’s experimental antibiotic, Trovan.
(AFP, 5/20/07)(SSFC, 12/12/10, p.A4)
2007 May 20, In Pakistan hardline clerics said that they had released two policemen held hostage at an Islamabad mosque, after a deal was struck with authorities to free 4 extremists.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Moscow’s main broadcast facility to protest what they called lies and censorship on TV stations that are either controlled by the state or under its influence.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, A bomb detonated in Mogadishu near the mayor's vehicle convoy, leaving at least two civilians dead. His bodyguards shot and killed a suspected insurgent who had been in a tree near the explosion.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Sri Lanka's government claimed to have killed more than 500 rebels in the past four months and lost 44 of its own soldiers in fierce fighting that has completely shattered the island nation's peace process.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In southern Thailand suspected Muslim insurgents shot and killed two Buddhist civilians and wounded a third, while a bomb wounded 11 people, including five policemen.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Thousands of flag-waving Turks demonstrated in the Black Sea port city of Samsun against the Islamic-rooted government, which they fear is undermining Turkey's secular system.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Vietnam elected a new National Assembly. Vietnam's communist party won more than 91% of seats in elections for the new national assembly, which will consist of 493 members.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 21, US Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden called for US troops to help quell the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, drawing a strong rebuke from Sudan's UN envoy.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in the United States for two days of talks that will spotlight tensions over US trade deficits with the Asian export giant. A Chinese state fund that is buying a $3 billion stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP wants to avoid political backlashes when it makes other investments abroad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Bill Richardson, Gov. of New Mexico, officially joined the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, The US Supreme Court ruled that parents don't need to hire a lawyer to sue public school districts over their children's special education needs.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2007 May 21, The US Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert for the diabetes drug Avandia, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, which disputed a report saying it was linked to a greater risk of heart attack. A doctor in Maryland had linked Avandia to congestive heart failure in 2000, but GlaxoSmithKline rejected her warning and tried to stop her from talking about it with other doctors and hospitals.
(AP, 5/21/08)(WSJ, 11/19/08, p.B6)
2007 May 21, Florida set its 2008 presidential primary for January 29.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, It was reported that California’s spending trends would have the prison budget overtake spending on state universities in five years.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Afghanistan's lower house of parliament voted to oust an outspoken female lawmaker who has enraged former mujahedeen fighters now in President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government. Malalai Joya (29) had compared parliament to a stable full of animals in a recent TV interview. A parliament rule known as Article 70 forbids lawmakers from criticizing one another.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Mining giant Rio Tinto and energy powerhouse BP announced plans for a $1.5 billion coal-fired power project in Australia which would capture carbon dioxide to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, The presidents of Belarus and Iran sought to cement ties that the Belarusian leader called "a strategic partnership." Belarus will develop an oil field in Iran under an agreement announced by President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit by Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Greenwich, England, a spectacular fire heavily damaged the clipper ship Cutty Sark, one of London's proudest relics of the 19th century tea trade with China designed to be the fastest ship of its day. Cutty Sark left London on its first voyage on Feb. 16, 1870, proceeding around Cape Hope to Shanghai 3 1/2 months later. The ship made only eight voyages to China in the tea trade, as steam ships replaced sail on the high seas.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Chile Pres. Michelle Bachelet apologized for failing to fix her capital's public bus system and promised to raise education spending by hundreds of millions of dollars.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government killed one person and wounded another after their convoy was targeted by a land mine in Mogadishu. Two Ethiopian rebel groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), said they have killed 157 troops in the east of the country this month.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Indar Jit Rikhye (86), Indian peacekeeper, died. In 1970 he set up the Int’l. Peace Academy in NYC to train military officers and diplomats in simulated conflicts.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.99)(www.ipacademy.org/our-work)
2007 May 21, Iran charged Haleh Esfandiari, a jailed Iranian-American academic, with setting up a network to overthrow the Islamic establishment, the government announced. Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Gunmen in two cars attacked a minibus outside Hibhib, Diyala Province, killing 7 passengers, including a child. In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a group of Iraqi soldiers patrolling the Sunni-dominated Adil neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing three of the soldiers and injuring two. The Iraqi newspaper Azzaman reported that one of its reporters, Ali Khalil (22), was kidnapped while leaving a relative's house in the increasingly volatile Baiyaa neighborhood of Baghdad and found dead several hours later. Two gunmen killed two police officers as they walked by the police station in Muqdadiyah. In Basra gunmen killed one police officer and wounding another in an attack on their patrol. A British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a supply convoy was attacked in the center of Basra.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Israel pushed ahead with its campaign against Palestinian rocket squads, pounding the Gaza Strip with new airstrikes that killed five militants. A rocket from Gaza killed an Israeli woman.
(AP, 5/21/07)(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Sweden, kicking off a 10-day tour of Europe that will take in the three Baltic nations and Britain, where they have faced protests in the past.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Kazakhstan's Pres. Nazarbayev (66) approved a constitutional amendment that waives presidential term limits and allows him to seek the top post indefinitely.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.42)
2007 May 21, Lebanese troops pounded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire for a second day, raising huge palls of smoke as they battled a militant group suspected of ties to al-Qaida in the worst eruption of violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Norway said it would make its first transfer of direct aid to the Palestinians' new government, more than two months after the Nordic country broke with most Western nations by recognizing the Hamas-led coalition.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Pakistan radical Islamist students kidnapped three policemen in Islamabad, creating a second tense police hostage stand-off.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, and vowed to boost legitimate trade and to strengthen cross-border cooperation in fighting smuggling in the Triple Border.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Polish doctors launched a nationwide open-ended strike, demanding a pay raise amid complaints that the health system is underfunded and medical professionals are overworked.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, In northern Sri Lanka 6 people were killed during deepening fighting between government soldiers and separatist rebels.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Tanzania the appeals court of the UN-backed Rwandan genocide tribunal upheld a life sentence for Mika Muhimana (57), convicted on multiple counts of rape and murder. Muhimana, a Hutu, was accused of involvement in the rape of nearly 30 women from the minority Tutsi tribe during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
(AFP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 22, The US and China opened a new round of high-level economic talks with the Bush administration pushing for concrete results and China saying efforts to politicize trade disagreements would be a mistake.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Two-time Olympic gold medalist speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and his professional dance partner, Julianne Hough, won ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
(AP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 22, Silas Rondeau, Brazil's mines and energy minister, resigned amid accusations he was bribed by a construction company that obtained contracts to provide electricity to poor rural areas in a program championed by the nation's first working class president.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, Prosecutors in London accused Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent, of murder in the radioactive poisoning of fellow ex-operative Alexander Litvinenko and sought his extradition from Russia. The Russian prosecutor-general's office said it will not turn over Lugovoi to British authorities.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Cambodian PM Hun Sen met with junta head Senior General Than Shwe in military-ruled Myanmar, as the two nations moved to improve tourism links.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The International Criminal Court prosecutor announced a war crimes investigation into hundreds of rapes and other violations in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. The UN condemned the capture of two aid workers in the north-west of the CAR, saying the worsening security was hampering its humanitarian work in the country.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Guatemala ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, an international adoption treaty, committing to bring adoptions under government regulation and make sure babies are not bought or stolen.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, In India streets were deserted and shops closed across the northern state of Punjab after Sikh leaders called a general strike in the wake of a clashes with a quasi-religious sect that have left one person dead. The Akali Dal, the Sikh’s main political party, encouraged protests against the Dera Sacha Sauda, a powerful group that had supported Congress in state assembly elections.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.43)
2007 May 22, Iran jumped gasoline prices 25% in a new blow to consumers already disgruntled over high inflation, and the government said it will begin rationing fuel in two weeks. By November inflation was running at 16%.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.56)
2007 May 22, A car bomb exploded at an outdoor market in a Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least 60. Gunmen in two cars drove through the nearby Khadra neighborhood and ambushed a civilian car carrying three plainclothes police from the major crimes unit, killing two and wounding the third. A police officer was killed when a roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol driving through eastern Baghdad. Gunmen disguised as soldiers set up a fake checkpoint and stopped a minibus bringing college students to the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. The militants killed 8 of the students and wounded three others. At another fake checkpoint near Baqouba gunmen killed six people from one family, a woman, her 5-year-old son and four men and stole their car. 2 mortar shells slammed into a teacher's college affiliated with Baghdad University, killing three students and injuring seven. In the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, a sniper shot two civilians, killing one and wounding the other. At least 100 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide. They included 33 people found shot execution-style, presumably by sectarian death squads, and their bodies scattered across Baghdad. US soldiers and two Marines were killed in separate attacks. A US soldiers was killed in a roadside bomb attack near Tikrit.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AP, 5/23/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 22, Israeli aircraft struck two camps used by the Islamic militant group Hamas, a day after a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli woman. Officials suggested even Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas could be a target.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, In Lebanon a convoy of UN relief supplies was hit in renewed fighting as it tried to enter the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared. At least 15 civilians were left dead or wounded. Lebanon asked the US for $280 million in military assistance.
(AP, 5/22/07)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A1)
2007 May 22, The UN's top refugee official arrived in Nepal for a visit aimed at resolving the fate of around 100,000 refugees from Bhutan stuck in Nepal for 16 years.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a militant training camp near the Afghan border, killing at least four suspected militants.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The Philippine elections commission suspended the vote count from last week's polls in southern Maguindanao province amid allegations of massive cheating by pro-government supporters.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, South African lawmakers passed amended legislation to broaden the definition of rape in a country with sky-high rates of sex crimes and HIV/AIDS. The heaviest snowfalls in 20 years blocked major highways, as a severe cold snap tightened its grip on South Africa. At least 17 deaths, mostly in Eastern Cape province, were blamed on the cold weather.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)(SFC, 5/26/07, p.B6)
2007 May 22, Guven Akkus (28), a suicide bomber, carried out an attack that killed six people and injured dozens in Ankara, using methods similar to those of a Kurdish rebel group. Akkus had spent two years in prison for hanging illegal posters and resisting police.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, President Bush, speaking at the US Coast Guard commencement, portrayed the Iraq war as a battle between the US and al-Qaida and contended that Osama bin Laden was setting up a terrorist cell in Iraq to strike targets in America.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2007 May 23, Jordin Sparks (17) of Glendale, Ariz., was crowned the newest and youngest "American Idol."
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, The California Energy Commission announced rules that barred municipal utilities from signing new contracts with coal-fired power plants. Coal generated about 20% of the state’s electricity.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A17)
2007 May 23, A conservation group said dozens of European mammals faced extinction unless immediate measures are taken to protect them. 35 of the continent’s 231 mammal species fell into the threatened category.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.A7)
2007 May 23, A bomb in northern Afghanistan killed a Finnish soldier and an Afghan civilian, while a suicide attacker in Kabul killed two people, including a policeman. Two operations in southern Afghanistan killed 18 suspected militants, including seven "foreigners," while six people died when a stash of ammunition exploded in the east.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Australian PM John Howard and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis sealed a deal which concluded a decades-long debate over pensions for one of the world's largest expatriate Greek communities.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Belarus lawmakers backed legislation stripping hundreds of thousands of disabled and retired people and students of social benefits and other state payments.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The High Court in London upheld a ruling letting families return to their Indian Ocean island homes, from where they were forced out 30 years ago to make way for a US military base. The Court of Appeal backed a High Court ruling in May last year that allowed the families to return to the Chagos Islands, except for Diego Garcia, a launchpad for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, China said it was investigating reports that toothpaste containing a potentially deadly chemical had been exported to Central America.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Colombia announced capital controls on some foreign investments to try to curb the soaring peso, which has made greater gains against the dollar this year than any other currency.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The BBC reported that Pakistani UN peacekeepers charged with disarming Congolese militia instead engaged in gold and weapons trafficking with militia members. The Pakistani unit in question deployed to Mongwalu in April 2005.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 27, The inaugural sermon was held at Mega Frater, Central America's biggest church. The new center of the Fraternidad Cristiana, a Neo-Pentecostal church based in the Guatemalan City, includes an auditorium that seats 12,500, a seven-story parking tower topped with a helipad and a day-care center for 3,000 kids.
(www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=Guatemala)
2007 May 23, An Iraqi intelligence officer alleged in a published report that 70% percent of insurgents fighting in Iraq come from Gulf countries via Syria where they are provided with forged passports. A suicide bomber walked into a packed market café in the town of Mandali, and blew himself up, killing 15 people and wounding 20 others. A suicide bomber (17) blew himself up in the house of two brothers who were supporting a Sunni alliance opposed to al Qaida in the Anbar province, killing 10 people, including the men, their wives and their children. A parked car bomb exploded in a parking lot in Jbala, killing three civilians and wounding 15 others. Gunmen drove into a commercial area in central Baghdad and opened fire on shops, killing four civilians and injuring 14 others. US-led forces discovered a cache of Iranian money and bomb-making equipment during a raid in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. Two suspected militants were killed in the raid and 19 others detained. At least 104 people were killed in sectarian violence or found dead, including 32 who died in suicide bombings. US authorities examined a body found in a river south of Baghdad and identified it as Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., one of three US soldiers seized in an ambush on May 12. 2 US soldiers were killed during combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 23, Japan passed a law to fund the reorganization of US forces in Japan and help move thousands of Marines from the country's south to the US territory of Guam. Fire broke out at a farm in northern Japan, killing about 2,000 pigs.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Lebanon hundreds of Palestinian civilians carrying their belongings in plastic bags trickled out of a besieged refugee camp, taking advantage of a truce in fighting that mostly held overnight.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In western Mexico a tractor-trailer loaded with sand smashed into a toll booth and rebounded into other vehicles, setting off a blaze that killed 10 people.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she discussed a stalled free trade agreement in Tokyo.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Romania's suspended President Traian Basescu was reinstated after he won a referendum on his removal from office.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Serbia Slobodan Milosevic's paramilitary commander and 11 other men were convicted and sentenced in the assassination of Serbia's first democratically elected prime minister, Zoran Djindjic.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In northern Syria 14 people were killed and 20 injured when an Iraqi bus overturned on the Raqqa-Aleppo highway about 250 miles north of Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, In southern Thailand 7 people including two teenagers were killed, while 11 others were injured in a spate of bombings by suspected separatist rebels.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The UN human rights commissioner said that Burundi has agreed to set up a tribunal to try people suspected of genocide and war crimes during its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Yuri Chernogayev, an Uzbek reporter for German broadcaster, said he faces up to 10 years in prison after being accused of defaming President Islam Karimov.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 24, The US Congress passed a spending bill, providing $95 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pres. Bush signed the bill the next day.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 24, The Alabama Legislature passed a resolution that expressed profound regret for the state’s role in slavery. Gov Bob Riley was expected to sign it. In recent months Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia made formal apologies.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Oakland, Ca., C.C. Myers led the completion of repair work on I-580, 26 days after a portion of the MacArthur Maze collapsed following a gasoline tanker crash and fire.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 24, Ohio death row inmate Christopher Newton was executed by injection; it took him 16 minutes to die, more than twice the usual amount of time, once chemicals began flowing into his veins, which the execution team had had trouble locating.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 24, Ancestry.com unveiled over 90 million US war records that dated back to 1607.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.C5)
2007 May 24, Energy Brands Inc. agreed to a $4.1 billion takeover by Coca-Cola.
(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Afghanistan Sayed Gulab, a suspect with "extensive connections" with other senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, was detained and held in a coalition facility.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Britain's Court of Appeal upheld a $95 million award to the ex-wife of insurance tycoon John Charman (54), the largest judgment ever in a contested divorce in England and Wales. Jenny Bailey (45), a female councilor who was born a man and fathered two children, was sworn in as Britain's first transsexual mayor. Bailey, a Liberal Democrat, became the civic leader of the Cambridge City Council.
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid (60), a restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida. Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday in the day unknown militants shot him in front of his house. In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police convoy and killed six police officers. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard a minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others. 5 US soldiers were killed in four separate attacks across Iraq, most of them by roadside bombs.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Ireland voters began casting their ballots in an election that analysts say is likely to return PM Bertie Ahern to power, but with new, left-wing partners in government. An exit poll gave his Fianna Fail party a surprisingly strong lead in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, Israeli troops in the West Bank rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas leaders in the West Bank before dawn, pressing forward with an offensive against the Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In Lebanon sporadic gunfire erupted inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader vowed to uproot the fighters. The family of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, the Palestinian who heads the shadowy militant group blamed for this week's violence in Lebanon, said he is not a terrorist but a nationalist who seeks an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Pakistan thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several, the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A Peruvian government flight serving as a link between isolated jungle communities disappeared in the country's northeastern rain forest with 20 people on board. 7 survivors were rescued the next day.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, A methane explosion tore through a coal mine in southern Siberia, killing 38 miners and injuring seven others. One worker died days later raising the toll to 39.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, Somali police shot and killed two civilians after attackers hurled a hand grenade at a police station.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In South Africa's Eastern Cape province 9 children were among 14 people killed in a multiple-vehicle crash.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a flotilla of rebel boats launched a deadly raid on a navy camp, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital killing one soldier and wounding six people. Tigers claimed to have killed 32 sailors. Government troops killed 12 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern Vavuniya district.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AFP, 5/25/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 24, In Switzerland an arson fire gutted the interior of Hekhal Haness Synagogue, Geneva's largest synagogue.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, The head of the UN nuclear agency said he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the US and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Zimbabwe police slapped a new ban on political rallies and demonstrations in parts of the capital Harare, citing a recent spate of "disturbances."
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 25, President Bush signed a bill to pay for military operations in Iraq that did not contain a timetable for troop withdrawals.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, The US filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against India, saying its duties on alcoholic beverages and other imports violate global trade rules.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis, was quarantined by the federal government after returning from his European wedding and honeymoon.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, Miami police said Francisco Oliveira (29), a handyman delivering drugs, shot and critically wounded Fabio Alonso Salgado (aka Estefano), a prominent Latin music songwriter and producer, inside a waterfront mansion.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 25, In central Texas two days of storms and flooding left 5 people dead and one missing.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, US and British researchers reported that stem cells taken from the umbilical cords of newborns can be engineered to produce insulin and may someday be used to treat diabetes.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Coca-Cola said it would buy Glaceau, an American maker of vitamin enhanced water, for $4.1 billion. This was Coke’s largest acquisition to date.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.78)
2007 May 25, Charles Nelson Reilly (76), actor, died. In 1962 he appeared on Broadway as Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The role won Reilly a Tony Award. He later became known for his ribald appearances on the "Tonight Show" and various game shows.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Afghanistan a NATO soldier from Canada was killed and two other NATO soldiers were wounded in overnight attacks by Taliban fighters. 7 Taliban fighters, including two local commanders, were killed in a joint coalition-Afghan operation in Gereshk district of southern Helmand province.
(AFP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Radovan Stankovic, a convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal, escaped from custody while being transported to a hospital in eastern Bosnia after complaining of feeling ill.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, British authorities said 4 people in north Wales have tested positive for a mild strain of bird flu, linked to the H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza found in chickens.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Burundi 61 countries and international organizations promised 656 million dollars (488 million euros) during a donors' roundtable in the capital Bujumbura. The World Bank considers Burundi, where 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, the world's third-poorest nation.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Costa Rica health officials said they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, German lawmakers passed a ban on smoking on public transport and in federal buildings, including the parliament. It still needs approval from the upper house of parliament, where the government also has a majority.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding US troops leave Iraq. Gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a police officer as he was leaving his house in the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, 20 miles south of Baghdad. In al-Wijaihiya, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, a gunbattle between residents of a Sunni village and their rivals in a neighboring Shiite village, killed two people and injured five others. 6 mortar rounds hit houses in western Baghdad, killing one person. The notorious leader of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the city of Basra was killed in a shootout as British and Iraq troops tried to arrest him. Wissam al-Waili (23), also known as Abu Qadir, was shot and killed along with his brother and two aides.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, A "garbage crisis" in Naples dominated news in Italy. For weeks local and national authorities have tried to end a stalemate over mountains of rubbish rotting on the streets for lack of adequate landfill sites.
(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Abdullah el-Faisal, a Muslim cleric named by the British government as a key influence on one of four men who carried out the deadly London transport bombings in 2005, was deported to Jamaica after being released from prison.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, In Mexico 2 members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a Marxist guerrilla group, disappeared. A week later the group blamed the government and called for their safe return and warned of dire consequences. In July the group began blowing up natural gas pipelines. Attacks took place on July 6,10 and Sep 10.
(WSJ, 11/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 25, Myanmar's military government extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by another year.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers, including three Americans and four Britons.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Pakistani police busted a gang trading in kidneys and arrested eight people, including five doctors.
(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Russia's lower house of parliament gave preliminary backing to a new wide-ranging restrictions on smoking in public. In southern Russia a brawl between hundreds of Caucasus migrants and local Russians, all armed with metal rods, baseball bats and knives, killed an ethnic Chechen in Stravropol.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In South Africa tens of thousands of nurses, teachers and other public service workers took to the streets to press their demands for a 12 percent pay increase.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Turkey's president vetoed a newly passed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the people, and not Parliament, to elect the new president.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Kurdish guerrillas bombed and derailed a Syria-bound train from Iran near the town of Genc in Turkey’s southeastern Bingol province. Turkish authorities later seized weapons hidden among construction materials found on the train following the attack.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 26, In Washington, DC, some 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside the Damascus embassy to protest against the government of Pres. Assad.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 26, In southern Afghanistan an explosion during a fight with Taliban militants killed a British soldier. US-led coalition and Afghan forces detained a Taliban commander and two suspected al-Qaida militants in the east. In Kandahar 3 policemen and a civilian passer-by were wounded in a suicide attack. Gen. Mohammad Doud said Afghan forces have eradicated some 64,250 acres of poppies this year compared with 39,000 acres last year. Officials expected from 407,715 acres to 482,000 acres of poppies to be cultivated this year.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northeast China a restaurant fire killed 11 staff and diners and injured 16 others. The fire started in the kitchen and raged through the popular three-story Baixinglou restaurant in Liaoning province's Chaoyang city.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In southern Greece a flash flood swept away a group of hikers alongside the Lousios River, killing at least five people.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In India a bomb exploded in a busy market in northeast Assam state, killing 7 people and injuring 18.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, An Iranian official said that Iran, embroiled in a row with Washington over its nuclear program, has increased the amount of its oil export earnings in currencies other than US dollars to about 70%.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and American Cmdr. Gen. David Petraeus flew to Iraq's blistering western desert in a rare joint outing to highlight gains there in the fight against insurgents. American forces raided Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes. In Basra 5 Mahdi Army fighters were killed and 15 wounded. The US military reported the deaths of 8 US troops.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/26/08)
2007 May 26, Israel fired missiles at five Hamas targets minutes apart, killing five people just hours after Gaza militants floated the idea of halting rocket fire on Israeli border towns if the 10-day-old air campaign ends. In the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested Cabinet minister Wasfi Kabaha, confiscating his computer and many of his documents. Also in the West Bank, Palestinian police ambushed Adbel Razik (26), the leader of the violent Fatah offshoot the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, as he emerged from his home. A grenade blew up in his hand, and he later died of his wounds.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his son-in-law, diplomat Rakhat Aliyev, after Aliyev challenged the Kazakh leader by declaring he intended to run for the presidency.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, The newly installed Dutch government said some 25,000 asylum-seekers whose applications for refuge were rejected will be allowed to stay, reversing the previous administration's hardline immigration policy. The amnesty will apply to asylum-seekers who arrived before April 1, 2001 and were found not to qualify but who remained in the country anyway.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Nigeria's oil unions said they have suspended a two-day-old strike after the government met their demands over the proposed sale of two state-owned oil refineries.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northwestern Pakistan a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy, killing at least two soldiers and wounding seven others.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Egyptian Lieutenant Colonel Ihab Ahmed, a UN peacekeeper, died after he was shot during a robbery at his residence in El Fasher. Ahmed, part of a small group of reinforcements sent to Darfur, became the UN's first casualty since its arrival in the region.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Turkey thousands of flag-waving protesters filled streets in Denizli, accusing the government of trying to impose Islamic values on the country's Western way of life.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Ukraine several thousand interior troops streamed to Kiev, strengthening President Viktor Yushchenko's hand in a bitter dispute with the nation's prime minister that stoked up fears of violence.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets chanting "Freedom, Freedom!" to protest President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of the country's most-watched TV station, an outlet for the opposition.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Zimbabwe riot police arrested more than 200 opposition activists and officials during a meeting they were holding at their party headquarters in Harare.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 27, Dario Franchitti won a rain-abbreviated Indy 500.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2007 May 27, SF held its annual Carnival parade in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D2)
2007 May 27, Gretchen Wyler (75), a veteran Broadway actress who enjoyed a second career on television and was a leading animal rights activist, died in Camarillo, Calif.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, The Taliban released 3 Afghan aid workers, who were kidnapped with two French colleagues nearly two months ago. The Taliban launched a new operation targeting government and foreign forces in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb killed three Afghan security guards working for the coalition in the east. Taliban militants ambushed US-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants. Villagers said 7 civilians also died.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Edward Behr (81), a noted British foreign correspondent and writer who penned books on history, good eating and his career as a journalist, died in Paris.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, In eastern Congo Rwandan rebels attacked villagers with machetes, spears and hammers, killing 17, wounding 28 and taking up to a dozen hostages.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Iraqi and US troops raided Baghdad's Sadr City slum, targeting Shiite insurgent cells there for a second day. British forces in the south killed three Shiite militants in overnight fighting. Iraqi and US forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis, some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months, in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned and handed over their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army militants. Gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing one person and injuring 8 others. Later, the same gunmen ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers. Gunmen shot up the car of Lt. Col. Hiyis al-Jubouri, a police commander in the northern Salahuddin province, killing him and another police officer. Gunmen attacked a group of farmers in the al-Nahrawan district, 10 miles east of Baghdad, killing two and injuring nine.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, PM Ehud Olmert promised more attacks on the Hamas militant group after a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli man in southern Israel.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Kuwait's government announced that it is moving the country's weekend to Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday effective Sep 1.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Mexico assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles shot dead six family members, including three children, as they ambushed a minivan on a country road.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Christian Mungiu, a Romanian director, won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for his “3 Weeks and 2 Days," which looked at abortion during the communist era. Michael Moore’s “Sicko," a film on the inequities of America’s health system, also featured at Cannes.
(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.32)
2007 May 27, Russian police detained gay protesters calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride parade in central Moscow while nationalists shouting "death to homosexuals" punched and kicked the demonstrators.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, A Rwandan genocide court handed a 19-year prison sentence to Francois-Xavier Byuma, a member of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, for participating in the country's 1994 mass murder.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Spain's rival Socialists and conservatives fought to a virtual tie in local elections, highlighting the deep divisions in the country a year before national elections. The opposition People’s Party (PP) led by Mariano Rajoy won 35.6% vs. 34.9% for the Socialists.
(AP, 5/27/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.59)
2007 May 27, Syrian President Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station as part of a one-day public referendum to endorse him for a second term and bolster his autocratic rule. Assad won another seven years in office, getting 97% of the vote in a nationwide referendum in which he was the only candidate.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Thailand 6 bombs ripped through a key commercial district, wounding 10 people.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Floods in eastern Turkey killed 10 people including six children aged between 18 months and 12.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Ukraine's feuding president and prime minister agreed to hold an early parliamentary election on Sept. 30, defusing a crisis that threatened to escalate into violence when the president sent troops streaming toward the capital.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Zimbabwean police freed the bulk of 200 youth opposition activists arrested in a raid on their party headquarters.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 28, Astronomers on teams from UC Berkeley and Australia reported the discovery of 28 new planets in the Milky Way.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Alaska officials from 75 nations began talks critical to whale conservation amid pressure, notably from Japan, to lift a 20-year ban on commercial whale hunting.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Petersburg, Ky., the new Creation Museum opened with displays touting the beginning of time at 4004BC. Founder Ken Ham raised $27 million to build it. Answers in Genesis (AIG), owned and ran the museum and expected 250,000 yearly visitors paying $9.95 to $19.95 for tickets. In 2011 AIG planned to open a related theme park called Ark Encounter.
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A2)(www.creationmuseum.org/)(Econ, 1/1/11, p.27)
2007 May 28, In northern Afghanistan a demonstration against a governor left at least seven dead and 31 injured after gunfire broke out between police and protesters. A suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two others in Kunduz. It was reported that truck drivers in Afghanistan had more problems with police demanding bribes that with the Taliban.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A10)
2007 May 28, Police found a cocaine laboratory in the southern Bolivian jungle capable of producing 245 pounds of the drug daily, one of the largest drug labs ever discovered there. Satellite photos taken by the US Drug Enforcement Agency revealed the location of the lab.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, In Brazil Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a program to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Britain’s public health minister said beer, wine and hard liquor packaging in Britain will carry warning labels next year detailing how many units of alcohol each drink contains as well as recommended safe drinking levels.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, A blast ripped through a crowd in Ethiopia's volatile Somali region, killing 6 people and setting off a stampede that saw up to six more die. The attack happened as hundreds of people were gathered at the stadium in Jijiga town's Revolutionary Square for a ceremony marking the overthrow of Ethiopia's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 2008 an Ethiopian court sentenced to death 8 alleged members of the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF) for the attack.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 28, Officials said heavy storms, landslides, flash floods and lightning have killed at least 23 people in Europe and Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Joerg Immendorff (b.1945), German artist, died. He was best known for his “Café Deutschland" series begun in 1978.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.B3)
2007 May 28, In northwest Iran 7 Revolutionary Guard members and five militants were killed in clashes with armed insurgents.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, The US and Iran broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking US and Iraqi forces. The Iranian ambassador later said the two sides would meet again in less than a month. Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi, an Iraqi journalist, was shot to death along with his wife, son, parents and three other relatives. A suicide car bomber struck a busy commercial district in central Baghdad, killing at least 21 people and damaging a Sunni shrine. In central Baghdad a battle raged after insurgents hijacked two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers. At least 3 policemen were killed. A roadside bomb killed 2 people and injured 9 when it detonated under a parked car in the central Baghdad district of Bab al-Muadham. Another 2 people were killed and 6 were wounded after two mortar rounds slammed into a street in Karrada, a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. 36 people were killed across Baghdad in a wave of attacks. Another 33 bullet-riddled bodies were dead, tortured and abandoned in different parts of the capital. 10 American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash in Diyala province.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, Japan's agriculture minister died after hanging himself just hours before he was to face questioning in a political scandal.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Kazakh authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the powerful son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev who faces abduction charges and has publicly criticized the longtime leader.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 28, In Mexico City Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan who hopes to someday open an international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Pakistan a court sentenced a same-sex couple to three years in jail on perjury charges, prompting the defendants to ask the president for help. The case of Shumail Raj, who was born female but had two operations to remove her breasts and uterus 16 years ago, and Shahzina Tariq has made waves by raising issues of homosexuality and transsexuality that are taboo in this conservative Muslim society. Pakistani police killed four pro-Taliban militants in a gun battle in the northwestern town of Bannu. Hours later unidentified gunmen shot dead a military commander on the outskirts of the northwestern town of Tank. A suicide attacker rammed his bomb-laden vehicle into a military convoy in Pakistan, killing two soldiers and wounding eight.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Spain arrested 2 Algerians and 14 Moroccans, on suspicion of recruiting volunteers to fight in Iraq and other countries.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Sri Lanka a Tiger roadside bomb in Colombo killed 7 soldiers and civilians.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 28, In southern Thailand a bomb in a market in Kolomudo killed four Buddhists, including two children.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 28, RCTV, Venezuela's oldest private television station, was pushed off the air as President Hugo Chavez's government replaced the popular opposition-aligned network with a new state-funded channel. Police fired tear gas and plastic bullets into a crowd of thousands protesting the decision by President Hugo Chavez.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.14)
2007 May 29, President Bush ordered new US economic sanctions to pressure Sudan's government to halt the bloodshed in Darfur.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, President Bush's environmental adviser said the US rejects the EU's all-encompassing target on reduction of carbon emissions. The US and Australia ruled out a regional carbon trading scheme before the meeting officially opened in the northern city of Darwin, saying it was too early to impose uniform targets on APEC nations. APEC members already account for 60% of global energy demand and their needs are expected to almost double by 2030. Fidel Castro lambasted President Bush for opposing the EU's goal for an agreement on carbon emissions at next week's Group of Eight summit.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, The US officials confirmed that immigration visa fees would rise by an average of 66% effective July 30.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A3)
2007 May 29, Andrew Speaker (31), a lawyer from Atlanta with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis, ignored doctors' advice and took two trans-Atlantic flights, leading to the first US government-ordered quarantine since 1963. Italian officials said they were tracing the movements of Speaker, who honeymooned in Rome for two days despite being told to turn himself in to health authorities.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(Reuters, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who had galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, announced her "resignation" as the public face of the movement.
(AP, 5/29/08)
2007 May 29, At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, two children died in an early morning fire at a soldier's housing unit on the Army post. In 2008 Army wife Billi Jo Smallwood (35) was accused of setting her apartment on fire in a botched attempt to collect on her husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived and her two children died instead.
(www.topix.com/forum/city/louisville-tn/TLELGAU2D0M0I5V1T)(AP, 11/22/08)
2007 May 29, In Hudson Oaks, Texas, Gilberta Estrada (25) was found hanged by suicide along with 3 of her 4 children. A 9-month-old infant survived her noose.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A8)
2007 May 29, Bangladeshi authorities revived two graft cases against former premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Security forces arrested 4 former government ministers, 2 mayors and a top businessman as the military-backed emergency government stepped up an anti-corruption drive.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Brazilian Senate President Renan Calheiros said that he won't resign over accusations he accepted payoffs from one of the country's top construction companies.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, was sentenced to death in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and Asia failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, The roof of a newly built house in Wulanji, a northern Chinese village in Inner Mongolia, collapsed during a celebration for its completion, killing 16 people and injuring another 29.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Egypt's parliament voted to expel an MP and nephew of late President Anwar Sadat, after he was declared bankrupt.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Ethiopia began counting its population, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, European and Asian foreign ministers meeting in Germany agreed to set a 2009 deadline to complete negotiations on a new international climate change pact to limit greenhouse gases.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In India clashes between police and thousands of people demanding government aid in the northern state of Rajasthan left at least 13 people dead.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Indonesia a teenage girl died of bird flu, taking the death toll in the nation worst hit by the virus to 79.
(AFP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Iran's judiciary spokesman said US academic Haleh Esfandiari and two other Iranian-Americans have been "formally charged" with endangering national security and espionage.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Iraq 5 British men were pulled out of a Finance Ministry office by about 40 heavily armed men in police uniforms in broad daylight and driven in a convoy of 19 four-wheel-drive vehicles toward Sadr City. Management consultant Peter Moore and four of his security guards were seized. In 2008 a Shiite militia that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping said a hostage named Jason had committed suicide on May 25. The bodies of Alec MacLachlan (30), Jason Swindlehurst (38), and Jason Creswell (39) were handed over to British officials in 2009. Moore was released on Dec 30, 2009. The body of Alan McMenemy was returned in early 2012. Two car bombers hit neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Tigris River, killing 40 people and wounding more than 100 others. 3 German computer consultants were kidnapped from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in Baghdad. Gunmen in Samarra set up fake checkpoints on the outskirts of the city and abducted more than 40 people, most of them soldiers, police officers and members of two tribes that had banded together against local insurgents. Col. Hamid Ibrahim al-Jazaa, a Sunni police chief praised by US forces for clearing his city of insurgents, was arrested following an investigation into alleged murder, corruption and crimes against the Iraqi people. Al-Jazaa, his brother and 14 bodyguards were taken into custody in the city of Hit. One US soldier died of wounds from a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP, 7/20/08)(AP, 7/29/09)(AP, 12/30/09)(AFP, 1/20/12)
2007 May 29, In Japan an executive allegedly involved in a bid-rigging scam that has been linked to the suicide of the agriculture minister leaped to his death.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Lebanon’s army clashed with al-Qaida-linked Islamic fighters in a Palestinian refugee camp, breaking a weeklong truce.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Libya said it will sign a 900 million dollar exploration deal with energy giant BP, which plans to return after a 33 year absence. British PM Tony Blair arrived in Libya and welcomed improved relations as oil companies from both countries signed a major deal.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Nicaragua US embassy confirmed that an American woman, Lemon E. Groves (49), had died of injuries suffered when she was attacked in her home in the Nicaraguan city of Grenada last week.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Umaru Yar'Adua (56), a former governor hand-picked by departing President Olusegun Obasanjo, was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of power from one elected government to another. Gun battles between rival gangs in Nigeria's southern oil-producing state of Rivers erupted in violence linked to a change of governor, killing 15 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Russia pledged to write off an additional $500 million of African debt. Russia test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple independent warheads. President Vladimir Putin warned that US plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a "powder keg."
(Reuters, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Sri Lanka troops and police stepped up security in Colombo after two bomb blasts by suspected Tiger rebels within 24 hours killed 11 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Sweden said it plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020, bettering the EU's proposal to cut emissions by at least 20%.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Senior Thai judges began deliberating on whether to dissolve the kingdom's two main political parties as thousands of troops were put on alert amid security fears ahead of the court verdict.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, State media said Zimbabwe will put 40,000 more people on life saving anti-retroviral drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, US President George W. Bush officially nominated Robert Zoellick, the former US deputy secretary of state, to be new World Bank president, describing him as a "committed internationalist."
(Reuters, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Robert Alan Soloway (27), described as one of the world's most prolific spammers, was arrested in Seattle, Wa. Federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Microsoft introduced a computer designed like a table with a touch-screen called Surface. It was aimed for use in hotels and casinos.
(WSJ, 5/30/07, p.B1)
2007 May 30, Motorola announced plans to cut 7,500 jobs and reduce costs by $1 billion through the end of this year and next. The company also announced that a shareholder proposal to have a say on executive pay passed by 51.8%.
(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A3)
2007 May 30, Global banking giant HSBC donated 50 million pounds (73.5 million euros, 98.8 million dollars) to set up a "green task force" to tackle climate change worldwide. HSBC teamed up with The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF to provide conservation managers and policy makers with the latest research.
(AFP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Mark Harris (b.1922 as Mark Harris Finkelstein), American author, died in Goleta, Ca. His 13 novels and 5 nonfiction books included “Bang The Drum Slowly" (1956), a baseball novel that he adopted for the 1973 movie of the same name.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B9)
2007 May 30, A Saudi Arabian detainee died at Guantanamo Bay prison and the US military said he apparently committed suicide.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghan and US-led coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, leaving six suspected insurgents dead and one wounded. A roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded another in the southern province of Uruzgan. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by Taliban militants in an attack that killed everyone on board, five US soldiers, a Canadian and a Briton. In western Farah province, insurgents attacked the Pusht Rod district, and ensuing clashes with police left 10 militants dead and 15 wounded.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to increase cooperation after meeting with Group of Eight foreign ministers amid concerns that enmity between the neighbors is helping the Taliban inflict mounting losses on NATO troops and Afghan civilians.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Ontario and California leaders said they will work together to develop new stem cell therapies to help conquer cancer, and will cooperate on curbing greenhouse gas emission.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, In the northwest corner of Central African Republic soldiers set fire to hundreds of houses in retaliation for the killing of a local official by unidentified gunmen. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 420 children die each week, and that escalating conflict between the CAR government and rebel groups has forced some 212,000 people to flee their homes in recent years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 May 30, Chinese stocks plunged after the government raised a tax on share trades, trying to cool a market boom amid growing concerns about a possible bubble. The stamp tax was tripled to 0.3%. The port city of Xiamen announced a decision to temporarily suspend construction of a petrochemical plant after nearly a million text messages were sent protesting its construction.
(AP, 5/30/07)(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A8)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.82)
2007 May 30, Cuba agreed to buy $118 million in US food products ranging from pork and corn to soybeans and Spam, and said it was negotiating deals that could bring the total to nearly $150 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Officials said one of the world's largest slums, a filthy shantytown in western India, will be razed and replaced with free homes for Mumbai's poor in a multi-billion dollar project by a private developer.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Indonesian marines shot and killed five people on Java island during a violent protest over a plot of land allegedly owned by the force.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Iranian troops killed 10 militants in ongoing clashes in the country's northwest, near the border with Turkey.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Hundreds of Iraqi and US troops cordoned off sections of Baghdad's Sadr City slum and conducted a series of raids after five British citizens were abducted from a nearby government building. 2 civilians were killed and four others injured in crossfire from gunbattles that broke out in one of the raids. Several mortar rounds apparently targeting an American military base in Fallujah missed their mark and landed instead on a courthouse and in a residential neighborhood, killing 9 civilians and wounding 15 others. A police commander's convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in Hamzah, south of Baghdad, killing two guards and injuring two others. Gunmen in 3 cars ambushed 3 soldiers who had stopped to drink orange juice in the center of Karbala, and stole the nearly $396,000 in salaries they were transporting to their unit. In Amarah gunmen mowed down Nazar Abdul-Wahid (33), an Iraqi journalist, as he stood on a city street. Over 25 people were killed across Iraq and the bodies of 25 men, all shot to death, were found in different parts of Baghdad. 3 US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A12)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 May 30, A group of internationally renowned Israeli authors and university presidents demanded that Israel grant Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip free movement to superior universities in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Medical officials in Kyrgyzstan confirmed that PM Almazbek Atambayev was poisoned after receiving death threats but said they have not yet identified the toxin.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, A UN resolution gave the Lebanese parliament a last chance to establish a tribunal to prosecute the killers of former PM Rafik Hariri. If it doesn't act by June 10, the UN decision will automatically "enter into force." A military judge filed terrorism charges against 20 suspected members of an Islamic militant group fighting Lebanese troops at a Palestinian refugee camp.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Malaysia's top civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country. A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card. Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Lina Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Moroccans were able to access the video sharing Web site YouTube for the first time since access was blocked last week.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Nepal some 10,000 Bhutanese refugees demonstrated at the India-Nepal border, where a day earlier Indian troops had opened fire, killing one refugee.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, It was reported that coffee shops licensed to sell marijuana in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht will begin fingerprinting customers and scanning their IDs this summer to help prove they're following rules governing such sales.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In southern Nigeria 4 American oil workers abducted three weeks ago were released.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Pakistan a court sentenced Younis Masih (29), a Christian, to death under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Masih was arrested in Sep 2005 on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore after residents told police he made derogatory remarks against Islam and Muhammad. Masih has said that dozens of Muslims had thrashed him on Sept. 10, 2005, when he asked them not to sing loudly because his nephew had died, and his body was still lying at home.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 30, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, host of the Islamic Development Bank’s annual meeting, spoke on behalf of the bank’s launch of a $10 billion fund to combat poverty in developing Muslim nations in Africa and other parts of the world. Saudi Arabia pledged to contribute $1 billion, Kuwait $300 million, Iran $100 million and Senegal $10 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Outgoing British PM Tony Blair arrived in the small west African nation of Sierra Leone on the second leg of a three-nation African tour.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Somalia Ethiopian troops shot and killed five bystanders after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Two senior officials with Thailand's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party were found guilty of election fraud in a ruling that could doom the political powerhouse founded by ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra. A court disbanded the political party of Shinawatra, barring him and 110 party executives from politics for five years due to election law violations.
(AFP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Turkish police captured 11 suspected al-Qaida militants who allegedly were planning to stage terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Venezuela a top opponent of President Hugo Chavez demanded the release of jailed protesters as university students poured into the streets for a third day to protest the removal of a leading opposition TV station from the air.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, President Bush, under international pressure to take tough action against global warming, called for a world summit to set a long-term global strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, In a breach of security, detailed plans for the new US Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared on the Web site of the architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush attended the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, The US and Russia agreed to put nuclear radiation monitors at all of Russia’s int’l. border crossings by 2011.
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill allowing civil unions for gays couples effective next year.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed a $6.06 billion budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, a 5.4% increase over the previous year.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B12)
2007 May 31, Wachovia Corp. said it will acquire brokerage firm A.G. Edwards for $6.8 bil.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.C3)
2007 May 31, Evan O’Dorney (13) won the Scripps National Spelling Bee when he correctly spelled the word “serrefine."
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, A Taliban ambush killed 16 policemen in a convoy on its way from the south to Kabul. A battle pitting NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan killed 20 militants. Taliban commander called Mullah Naqibullah was among the dead. Taliban fighters attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province. Police reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban dead. Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Australia and the Philippines agreed to expand counter-terrorism cooperation, with elite Australian troops to train their Philippine counterparts in the restive south.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, China’s state media said fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered Lake Tai in eastern Jiangsu province, contaminating the drinking water for millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, A wildlife expert said a thousand rare black-mane lions, an Ethiopian national symbol, and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was part of their sanctuary was cut down.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Haitian authorities arrested 10 people, including four police officers, who were allegedly transporting 925 pounds of cocaine in two vehicles with government license plates.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, India and the United States began talks intended to resolve delays in a nuclear energy deal that will give India access to long-denied Western nuclear technology.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Iran pledged to end years of stonewalling and provide answers on past suspicious activities to the UN nuclear monitoring agency probing its atomic program, in a move being seen as an attempt to avoid new UN sanctions. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's hard-line interior minister, encouraged temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution. A temporary marriage, or "sigheh," refers to a Shiite Muslim tradition under which a man and a woman sign a contract that allows them to be "married" for any length of time, even a few hours.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 May 31, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 US commander in Iraq, said that US military officers were talking with Iraqi militants, excluding al-Qaida, about cease-fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence. Saif M. Fakhry (26), an Associated Press Television News cameraman, was shot twice and killed in Baghdad while walking to a mosque near his home on his day off. A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah, killing as many as 25 people. The US military said only one policeman was killed and eight were wounded.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Japan failed in its bid to lift a moratorium on commercial whaling after stormy annual talks in Alaska of the 75-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC) and warned it might pull out of the organization.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya’s police over the last few months have arrested 2,464 suspected followers of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect whose members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Latvia's Parliament elected Valdis Zatlers, a surgeon with no political background as, the Baltic country's next president. He will replace outgoing President Vaira Vike-Freiberga in July when her second and final term ends.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Mexico's Televisa network, known around the world for its soap operas, said it plans to expand in China, following the lead of taco chains and other Mexican businesses looking for a slice of the Asian nation's market.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Dutch news agency ANP reported that almost half of Rotterdam's coffee shops will be forced to stop selling cannabis because they are too close to secondary schools.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In northwestern Pakistan about 100 suspected pro-Taliban militants attacked the house of a government official before dawn, killing 13 people.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In the Philippines 6 armed men boarded a bus in Manila and started robbing passengers. 3 suspects, the bus driver and a passenger were killed.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, President Vladimir Putin said that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the planned deployment of US missile defense installations and other forces in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The chief suspect in the murder of Russian ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko accused the British secret service of being behind the killing and said Litvinenko himself had been spying for MI6.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Rwanda said a law abolishing the death penalty would come into force at the end of July, six months after the government first announced plans to scrap capital punishment.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In South Africa Britain's PM Blair also said that Africa's leaders must get tough on authoritarian governments, such as those in Sudan and Zimbabwe.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Spanish government said it has filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against an American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Serbia arrested Zdravko Tolimir, one of six Serb war crimes suspects still at large. He was picked up in Belgrade and officially arrested in the Serb part of Bosnia.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.60)
2007 May 31, In southern Thailand suspected insurgents sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing 7 worshippers. Black-uniformed raiders roared into Kolomudo, a Muslim village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was over, five of the youths lay dead. Buddhist vigilantes were suspected. A roadside bomb killed 11 paramilitary troops almost simultaneously in some of the worst recent violence. A 12th soldier died the next day.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 31, Turkish lawmakers approved again a constitutional amendment that would see the president elected by popular vote, a change vetoed last week by the outgoing head of state. Turkey's top general said the military was ready to stage a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and that he already had sought government approval to mount military action.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May, Montana’s Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a bill offering tax incentives to many renewable energy projects, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. Montana claimed the largest coal reserves in America with 120 billion recoverable tons.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.36)
2007 May, Harvard-based psychologist Gardner posited in the May/June issue of “Foreign Policy," that the US limit the amount of money a single individual can annually take home to no more than "100 times as much money as the average worker in a society earns in a year." "If the average worker makes $40,000," Gardner proposes, "the top compensated individual may keep $4 million a year."
(www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3787)
2007 May, UC San Diego, home to the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), received $29 million to design and construct technology and networking components for the Ocean Observatories Initiative to monitor activity on the ocean floor. It will likely become part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
(SSFC, 7/29/07, p.A8)
2007 May, Mahalo.com, a web directory (or human search engine), was launched in alpha test by Jason Calacanis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalo.com)
2007 May, Twitter, an Internet service that allows users to send short messages in response to the question: “What are you doing," was incorporated. Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity worldwide.
(http://twitter.com/)(SFC, 10/5/09, p.D3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)
2007 May, Australia’s Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May, In Australia the Slater & Gordon law firm went public and used the proceeds to go on an acquisition spree, swallowing 6 smaller rivals within a year.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.55)
2007 May, In Germany 6 former members of cycling Team Telekom confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.74)
2007 May, A Geneva court temporarily blocked the release of some of the US$6.2 million stashed in Switzerland by Duvalier. Many in Haiti considered the money to have been stolen from public funds before Duvalier was ousted.
(AP, 1/17/11)
2007 May, In Japan it was uncovered that the Social Insurance Agency was unable to match 50 million computerized pension records to people who have paid into public programs. Another 14 million records appeared to have never made it into the computer at system at all.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.24)
2007 May, Inflation in Sri Lanka stood at 17%.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.56)
2007 May, UN police detained James Wasserstrom in at his home in Greece. He had been working for Unmik, the UN Mission in Kosovo. He had raised concerns over links between UN officials and a local utility company. He also hired by Kosovo to fight corruption. In 2012 the UN Ethics office ruled that his maltreatment was “perhaps excessive."
(Econ, 6/30/12, p.64)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
http://timelines.ws/21stcent/2007_6
June xxxx
2007 Jun 1, The US government warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In California a federal court judge barred the state from seizing abandoned assets until officials find a better way to notify people that their property is about to be taken.
(SFC, 6/2/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 1, In Michigan Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist dubbed "Dr. Death" for claims that he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides, left prison after eight years still believing people have the right to die.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Afghanistan a NATO soldier was killed in a bomb blast while two Afghan women and a policeman died in attacks elsewhere linked to a deepening Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Rakhat Aliyev, the Kazakh ambassador to Austria until he was dismissed on May 26, was arrested for alleged involvement in the suspected kidnapping of two senior managers of a bank he controls. He appealed to Austrian authorities not to extradite him to his homeland to face kidnapping charges.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In a key legal step toward assigning blame for Brazil's deadliest plane crash, two US pilots and four Brazilian air traffic controllers were indicted on charges equivalent to involuntary manslaughter for the Sep 29, 2006, mid-air collision that killed 154 people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Brazil federal authorities said an Indian tribe that has had very limited contact with the outside world, has been located in a remote Amazon region. The Metyktire, a subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, consisted of some 87 members.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Marly de Oliveira (69), the Brazilian poet who wrote the award-winning volume "O Mar de Permeio" (The Sea Between Us), died in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 1, The UN refugee agency said hundreds of women and children fled by foot and on donkeys from Darfur to the neighboring Central African Republic after their town was attacked by planes and helicopters. The refugees said their town of Dafak, in southern Darfur, was attacked repeatedly by janjaweed militia from May 12 to May 18 and that their homes had been bombarded by airstrikes.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In China a new bankruptcy law took effect making it easier to restructure insolvent firms.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.68)
2007 Jun 1, On Children’s Day in China thousands of people rallied in Xiamen to protest plans for a Taiwanese-owned chemical factory to make paraxylene, used in polyester. Thousands marched again the next day
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 1, Vietnam became Cuba's latest partner in oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico under one of several agreements signed during a visit by Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, A French naval frigate conducting a surveillance mission off Malta discovered the bodies of 18 people floating in the Mediterranean. Crew members on "La Motte Picquet" noticed no boat nearby as the bodies, possibly of illegal immigrants hoping to reach Europe, were pulled out of the water.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Police in northern India issued shoot-on-sight orders as eight more people were killed in ethnic clashes that have left 28 dead so far.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Indian-controlled Kashmir suspected Islamic militants attacked a paramilitary camp, a police post and an army vehicle in an upsurge in violence, killing three government soldiers and wounding another 22.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Iraq an al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber blew himself up in a house sheltering members of the rival 1920 Revolution Brigades, killing two of the other militants and wounding four in Baqouba. American troops killed 3 children near Fallujah when a US tank opened fire on suspected insurgents believed to be planting roadside bombs. A US soldier on a foot patrol was killed after approaching two suspicious men outside a mosque, one of whom blew himself up. US Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins (31) saved three soldiers when he used his body to subdue an insurgent attempting to detonate a bomb strapped to his body. In 2019 Pres. Donald Trump presented Atkins' family the Medal of Honor.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)(http://tinyurl.com/y2ocupvl)(SFC, 3/28/19, p.A7)
2007 Jun 1, Israeli troops shot and killed two 13-year-old Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border fence, saying they were crawling toward the barrier in a "suspicious manner." The boys had told their families they were going to the beach.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armored carriers moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon in pursuit of Islamic militants holed up inside. 19 people died in some of the heaviest fighting since violence broke out on May 20.
(AP, 6/1/07)(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 1, The government of Mauritania appealed to international donors to help it reverse a food shortage affecting more than 1 million people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, Mexican soldiers fired on a family traveling to a funeral when they failed to stop after being ordered to do so at the checkpoint near the village of La Joya. 19 Mexican soldiers were sent to a military prison June 4 for the shooting that killed two women and three children. In 2011 the commanding officer received a 40-year sentence in a court martial and another officer received 38 years. A judge gave 12 enlisted soldiers 16-year sentences.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 11/3/11)
2007 Jun 1, Nigeria’s national dailies reported that nearly 2,000 students sitting university entrance exams in have been caught using mobile phones to cheat. Gunmen disguised as riot police abducted four foreign workers from the residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's oil city Port Harcourt. The four hostages were citizens of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gunmen kidnapped three senior expatriate management staff and four family members from the residential compound of chemical company Indorama.
(AFP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Norwegian environmental group Bellona warned that a nuclear waste dump in the Russia Arctic may be in danger of exploding because of corrosion caused by salt water in enormous storage tanks.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Alan Johnston, a British reporter kidnapped in the Gaza Strip nearly three months, ago appeared in a videotape posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying his captors had treated him well, denouncing Israel, and criticizing British and US Mideast policy. The Swords of Truth, an Islamic group, threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Swords of Truth, an Islamic group, threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, At least one US warship bombarded a remote, mountainous village in Somalia where Islamic militants had set up a base. One target was said to be Fazul Abdullah Muhammad (35), a citizen of the Comoro Islands. The next day Puntland VP Hassan Dahir Mohamoud told The Associated Press that his government's troops killed eight foreign Islamic militants and five of them came from Britain, Eritrea, Sweden, the US and Yemen.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.52)
2007 Jun 1, In South Africa hundreds of thousands of public servants embarked on an indefinite strike.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, CNBC Africa was launched from new headquarters in South Africa. Dubai investors put in some $22.5 million for the 24-hour African business channel broadcasting to 14 African countries.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.75)
2007 Jun 1, The African Union objected to a proposal for a 23,000-strong AU-U.N. force to help end the bloodshed in Sudan's troubled Darfur region because it would give the United Nations command and control.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In southeast Turkey soldiers killed two Kurdish militants overnight in Tunceli, where troops massed along the border threatened an incursion into Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four Muslim men were arrested and in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a jet fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods. Two men allegedly involved in a plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were in custody in Trinidad and Tobago and the police commissioner said authorities were scouring the Caribbean country for a third suspect still at large. In 2011 Kareem Ibrahim (65) of Trinidad was found guilty of convincing plotters to seek aid from Iran.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/2/08)(SFC, 5/27/11, p.A6)
2007 Jun 2, Thomas M. Siebel (54), the founder and former chairman of Siebel Systems Inc., announced he will make a $100 million donation to the University of Illinois, his alma mater. This was the largest gift in the university's history. Siebel pledged to give the gift to the Urbana-Champaign campus upon his death.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Kelsey Smith (18) went missing when she went to a Target store in the Overland Park suburb of Kansas City to buy a gift for her boyfriend. On June 6 police found her body in a wooded area near Grandview, Mo., about 20 miles east of the Target store. Edwin R. Hall (26) was arrested shortly after her body was found. In 2008 Hall pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 7/23/08)
2007 Jun 2, In San Francisco, Ca., Hugues de la Plaza (36), a French national, was found dead in his Linden Street apartment in Hayes Valley. Police labeled his stabbing death as a possible homicide or suicide. In 2009 a French probe called his death a homicide. The French probe concluded that de la Plaza was stabbed in a surprise attack outside his apartment. In 2009 an independent review ruled out suicide.
(SFC, 1/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 2/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.C1)
2007 Jun 2, A boat crossing the Helmand River in Helmand province sank, and at least 60 Taliban militants were killed. Suspected Taliban militants attacked a local police commander's home, killing five of his family members and sparking a gunbattle with police that left 10 insurgents dead. In eastern Afghanistan suspected militants ambushed a NATO convoy, killing two members of the alliance and wounding 7 troops. 15 suspected militants were killed by police. In eastern Khost province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Yaqubi district and the ensuing clash left 12 militants dead. Police clashed with Taliban militants in neighboring Paktika province's Shakin district, leaving three suspected insurgents dead.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AFP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In England Authorized won the Epsom Derby giving riding legend Frankie Dettori his first win in the race on his 15th ride.
(AFP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev said he had accepted the resignation of two ministers, following a corruption scandal that has shaken his centre-left government.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Comoros and Guinea joined the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) at a summit of the nine-year-old African grouping in Libya, raising its membership to 25 countries.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Rostock, Germany, masked demonstrators protesting the upcoming G-8 summit meeting hurled stones and flagpoles at police.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, India and the United States failed to resolve differences over an American offer to share nuclear know-how and fuel, ending three days of negotiations that were intended to seal a deal seen as the cornerstone of an emerging partnership.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Iran detained 3 Finns for allegedly straying into its territorial waters during a fishing trip in the Persian Gulf. In June 6 Iran agreed to release them.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 2, A series of mortar barrages killed 8 civilians and wounded 25 others in a Sunni enclave surrounded by Shiite areas in central Baghdad. A key bridge was damaged by a bomb in northern Iraq. Prominent Sunni sheik, Ali Khudir al-Zind, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he walked near his home in western Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire in two separate locations in western Baghdad, killing three people. Police found two bullet-riddled bodies of people who had been bound and blindfolded and showed signs of torture. Four men were killed and one vehicle and 10 rockets destroyed by Apache fire at rocket firing positions aimed at the Green Zone. 6 suspects were captured by ground forces. Gunmen at a fake checkpoint in Baqouba killed two passengers and wounded eight others when they opened fire on three minibuses that sought to flee from the highway trap. Police found 8 unidentified bodies in an industrial area of the western city of Fallujah. In all at least 57 people were killed of found dead including 26 bullet riddled bodies, bearing signs of torture, found on the streets of Baghdad. US-led forces killed one suspected insurgent and detained eight in a series of raids outside the capital. 7 US soldiers were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 2, Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson announced a program aimed at saving elephants in Kenya, as he boarded his airline's first flight to the east African nation.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Lebanese air force joined tanks and artillery in pounding Islamic militant hideouts on the second day of an intensifying offensive to uproot al-Qaida-inspired gunmen barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Southern Nigeria's most prominent armed group released six foreign oil workers held captive for four weeks and announced a month-long moratorium in attacks on petroleum facilities.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four people believed to have fled North Korea arrived at a port in northern Japan in a small boat and told police they want to go to South Korea.
(Reuters, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Pakistan tens of thousands of demonstrators joined the biggest rally yet against the president's suspension of the chief justice, giving the jurist a joyous reception ahead of a speech in an opposition stronghold. Officials said a nursing school was shut down and its Christian principal and four Christian students suspended after Muslim pupils accused unknown people of desecrating verses from the Quran.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In the Philippines a man armed with a 21-inch-long knife killed nine people, including six children, and wounded 17 others in a rampage in central Samar province.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Russia former PM Mikhail Kasayanov was nominated by his opposition movement to run in next year's presidential election and promised to stop the Kremlin orchestrating the vote in its favor.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Mogadishu, Somalia, unknown gunmen killed a government official, Hassan Ali Sa'id, as he was about to enter his house.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Two Sri Lankan Red Cross workers, ethnic Tamil men abducted from Colombo two days ago, were found shot to death. The Tigers launched a night attack near Omanthai and claimed to have killed 30 soldiers. The army said it killed 52 Tigers.
(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 Jun 2, The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to permit a one-off sale of 60 tons of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to Japan, saying it would monitor closely the impact on poaching and population levels.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Zambia at least 12 soccer fans were crushed to death as a crowd rushed from the Lusaka stadium after Zambia's victory over Congo Brazzaville in an African Cup qualifier.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, After attending the MTV Movie Awards, Paris Hilton reported to jail to serve a 45-day sentence for a probation violation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. Hilton was released after three days behind bars for an unspecified medical condition, but a Los Angeles County judge ordered her back to jail.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2007 Jun 3, In Afghanistan 3 "enemies of peace and stability" were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded in the eastern province of Laghman. An Afghan army soldier was killed and another was injured by a remotely-controlled Taliban bomb in Zabul province.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Australia’s PM John Howard ditched his opposition to a greenhouse gas reduction target for Australia with a pledge to set a national pollution limit next year.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A strong earthquake shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos, killing at least three people.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A 19-year-old Chinese soldier died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country's 16th reported death from the virus.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In northeast India suspected rebels ambushed a police vehicle, killing four policemen and injuring two others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, A car parked near a police station and an open-air market exploded in Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad, killing nine civilians and one policeman and wounding 25 other people. Elsewhere in Diyala province gunmen stopped a commuter minibus and raked its passengers with gunfire, killing five people and injuring seven. American helicopter gunships attacked targets in Mahdi Army-dominated Shiite east Baghdad, killing four suspected militants. Mahdi Army militiamen battled with Iraqi troops and local police searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah. At least three people were killed and 24 wounded. 4 US soldiers died in a single roadside bombing northwest of Baghdad. Two other soldiers were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings.
(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Libya African leaders sought to reconcile differences between neighbors Chad and Sudan over Darfur and boost Somalia's embattled transitional government at a regional summit.
(AFP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, In southern Mexico tons of bananas collapsed the false floor of a tractor-trailer smuggling migrants, killing 6 people hidden inside a secret compartment and wounding a dozen others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Heavy gunfire rang out from inside a bombed out Palestinian refugee camp as the Lebanese army pounded Islamic militants holed up inside during the third day of a military offensive aimed at crushing the al-Qaida-inspired group.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Some 2,000 men and women participated in a series of four nude group photos in Amsterdam in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of US photographer Spencer Tunick.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Nigerian gunmen kidnapped six foreign staff of United Company RUSAL after blowing up their apartment with explosives in the southeastern town of Ikot Abasi.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Hamas militants wounded four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack on a base near the Gaza Strip, shortly after Israel's PM Ehud Olmert vowed to press ahead with military operations against Palestinian gunmen.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could take "retaliatory steps" if Washington proceeds with plans to build a missile defense system for Europe, including possibly aiming nuclear weapons at targets on the continent.
(WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 3, A severe landslide has nearly obliterated one of Russia's most noted natural wonders, the Valley of Geysers. A snow-covered mound collapsed "within seconds" and caused a massive landslide, about a mile long and 600 feet wide, burying two-thirds of the valley.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Sierra Leone a helicopter ferrying passengers to the main airport crashed, bursting into flames and killing 22 people, mostly Togo soccer fans.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, A suicide car bomber drove through a roadblock guarding the home of the Somali prime minister and rammed the vehicle into a wall. PM Ali Mohamed Gedi was whisked to safety, but at least five people were killed in the explosion.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Turkish troops shelled a border area in northern Iraq in an attack on Kurdish rebels based there.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev. George Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1932 as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted Poles afflicted by the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin), who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in 1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, President Bush left on an eight-day European trip that included a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, Two US military judges dismissed charges against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a US soldier in Afghanistan. Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen and Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was arrested on an Afghan battlefield, were the only two of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes under a reconstituted military trial system.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, US Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana, was indicted for graft involving Nigerian business schemes that netted him over $500,000 in bribes. Jefferson has maintained his innocence.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, In California 9 Hmong leaders, Gen. Vang Pao, a former Laotian military general, and Harrison Jack, a former officer in the California National Guard, were arrested during a sweep by more than 200 federal, state and local agents for their alleged plot, hatched last winter, to overthrow the communist government of Laos. They were charged with violating the US federal Neutrality Act. In 2009 federal prosecutors in Sacramento, Ca., dismissed charges against Vang Pao.
(AP, 6/5/07)(SFC, 5/12/09, p.A5)(SFC, 9/19/09, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, A small plane from Milwaukee carrying a six-member organ transplant team and their cargo of donor organs to Michigan crashed in Lake Michigan with no survivors.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Portage, Wisconsin, Tammie Garlin was killed. Felicia Garlin (15) and Michaela Clerc (20) had kicked her, then later that day carried her into the bathroom, where Clerc dropped her head on the floor. A roving band of suspected identity thieves buried her in the backyard and locked her bloody and beaten 11-year-old son in an upstairs closet. Authorities reached the house on June 14.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 4, Jim Clark (84), sheriff and segregationist from Alabama, died. He turned back the 1965 civil rights march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge leaving 57 people injured. National revulsion led to the Voting Rights Act later that year.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.99)
2007 Jun 4, US Sen. Craig Thompson (74), 3-term Republican conservative from Wyoming, died of leukemia.
(SFC, 6/5/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 4, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Iranian weapons have begun flowing into Afghanistan, but he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed involvement by Tehran cannot yet be proved. Six Taliban rebels were killed in a gunfight with Afghan and NATO-led troops in the eastern province of Paktia. Afghan forces sank a boat in the Helmand River carrying suspected Taliban fighters fleeing an attack, and more than 20 drowned. In a separate gunbattle and airstrikes killed an estimated two dozen militants. Roadside bombs killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded five in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AFP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, Scientists said a frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles were among two dozen new species discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Algeria Hassan Hattab, fugitive founder of the extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for setting up an armed terrorist group by a court in Tizi-Ouzou.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 4, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that rich nations should pay poorer countries to preserve their forests because the rich are responsible for most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Police formally accused a brother of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of influence peddling after a nationwide crackdown on illegal gambling. About 600 Federal Police agents took part in the raids carrying 87 arrest warrants and another 50 search and seizure warrants in six states as part of Operation Razor, an investigation into fraudulent public works (www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8320/54/).
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)(www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8320/54/)
2007 Jun 4, PM Tony Blair said the British government is to boost funding to help train Muslim imams at universities and to step up the promotion of moderate Islam.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, China promised to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West. The government also said it will license no new Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide inspection, amid official concern that online material is harming young people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Cambodian and foreign judges began a weeklong meeting to confirm rules for the much-delayed genocide trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Colombia Rodrigo Granda, the highest-ranking jailed member of the country's main guerrilla group, was freed by the government as part of a wider prisoner release intended to help secure the freedom of 60 hostages, including three Americans, held by the guerrillas. There is no explanation for why these particular captives are to be freed. Police officer Guillermo Solorzano was seized by the FARC.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 12/23/10)
2007 Jun 4, In Germany hundreds of protesters clashed with police ahead of this week's G8 meeting, as anti-globalization activists challenged attempts by security officials to keep them away from the summit town of Heiligendamm. Nearly 1000 officers and protesters were already injured in clashes.
(AP, 6/4/07)(WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Emerging economic powers India and Brazil pledged to increase bilateral trade four-fold to 10 billion dollars in the next three years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The NY Times said US-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown. Insurgents posted a video claiming to have killed the 3 US soldiers who went missing May 12. The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. was later recovered; a year later Spc. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty remained missing. Iraqi police said at least 6 people were killed and 14 were wounded in 3 separate bombings in Baghdad. At least 16 other people were killed or found dead in attacks elsewhere, including a pregnant woman who died in a mortar barrage targeting a US base in Fallujah.
(AP, 6/4/07)(SFC, 6/5/07, p.A13)(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, Violence sparked by a two-week old confrontation between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida inspired militants spread to a second Palestinian refugee camp in the southern part of the country, killing two soldiers.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Experts warned at a conference in Nepal's capital that Himalayan glaciers are retreating fast and could disappear within the next 50 years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Thousands of survivors of Europe's worst massacre since World War II filed a lawsuit against the UN and the Dutch government for their failure to protect civilians in the Srebrenica safe haven when Bosnian Serb forces overran it in 1995 and slaughtered some 8,000 men.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Charles Taylor boycotted the start of his Liberia war-crimes trial at the Hague.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, The Nigerian police said military troops stormed a hideout in Ebonyi state and freed one of two Chinese workers abducted by unknown gunmen on Mar 17.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Oman evacuated an island as Cyclone Gonu drew near the Persian Gulf.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Pres. Musharraf signed a decree giving a government regulating agency stronger powers over the news media and the ability to rewrite regulations without recourse to Parliament. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf after the alleged blocking of three private television news channels by the Pakistani authorities. Police arrested Attaur Rehman and Faisal Bhatti in Kashmor, a town about 300 miles northeast of Karachi, in association with the 2002 murder of Daniel Pearl. Police later said the 2 men had been in custody since 2002.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.A4)(AFP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Senegal defended the low poll turnout used by critics to put a question mark on the legitimacy of weekend legislative elections, saying the west African nation had never had enthusiastic voters. A 17-party opposition grouping had called for an unprecedented boycott of the ballot, which looked set to be won by President Abdoulaye Wade's ruling party.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Somalia Ethiopian troops fired at a would-be suicide bomber speeding toward their base, blowing up the car and killing the bomber and a civilian standing nearby.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) said a study of mortality patterns in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Senegal indicated Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis was reaching deep into elected governments.
(Reuters, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, South African police fired stun grenades and made a dozen arrests as they cracked down on union hardliners who were preventing nurses from turning up for work at a hospital in Durban.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The TED organization (Technology, Entertainment, Design) gathered in Tanzania for a 4 day session to discuss ideas for helping the poor of Africa.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.55)(www.ted.com/pages/view/id/49)
2007 Jun 4, Seven Turkish paramilitary police were killed when Kurdish militants attacked their headquarters in eastern Tunceli province.
(AP, 6/4/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 4, The UN warned in a report that up to 12% of Arctic ice has turned to water in the past 30 years, an alarming fact that only accelerates global warming further.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Venezuela thousands of university students, their hands painted white as a symbol of nonviolence returned to the streets of Caracas, keeping up a week of protests against President Hugo Chavez's decision to force a popular TV station off the air.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, US President George W. Bush sought to soothe Moscow's fury at Washington's plans to extend its anti-missile shield in Europe, saying in Prague on the eve of the G8 summit that Russia was "not our enemy."
(AFP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for perjury and obstruction, in a case which also put a glaring spotlight on the flawed US case for waging war against Iraq. President Bush later commuted the prison sentence.
(AFP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/5/08)
2007 Jun 5, Coca-Cola Co. at the World Wildlife Foundation's annual meeting in Beijing announced it is funding a $20 million project to conserve seven major rivers worldwide and also will revamp its bottling practices to reduce pollution and water use.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, A passenger train and truck collided at a rail crossing in southern Australia, killing 11 people and injuring up to 50.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, In Bolivia the judiciary stage a one-day strike to counter a presidential assault on its independence.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.41)
2007 Jun 5, The governor of Brazil's Amazon state signed into law legislation aimed at curbing global warming in an area bigger than France and Spain combined.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, China joined Russia in criticizing a US plan to build a missile defense system in Europe, saying the system could set off an arms race.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Tony Mokbel (42), a top Australian fugitive, was arrested in Greece. The next day he accused Australia's authorities of saddling him with a bogus murder charge to secure his extradition. Mokbel had fled overseas in 2006 while on bail for importing cocaine.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, Alert guards gunned down a black-clad woman at a police recruiting station in Baghdad, a would-be suicide bomber who then exploded before their eyes. Another bomber in Amiriyah killed at least 15 people at a gathering of tribal leaders opposed to al-Qaida in the volatile Anbar province. Gunmen assassinated a local leader of Muqtada al-Sadr's radical Shiite Muslim faction south of Baghdad, and to the north insurgents ambushed an Iraqi army vehicle, killing an undetermined number of soldiers. Police Maj. Enad Khattab was shot and killed along with his brother as they drove in central Beiji about 155 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/6/07)(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 5, Kenyan police overnight killed more than 20 suspected members of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect, accused in a string of beheadings and the deaths of two police officers in the Mathare slum the previous day.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Pakistani police said they have filed a preliminary complaint against about 200 journalists for defying a ban on rallies in the capital by protesting curbs on the media, the latest sign of government intolerance of coverage of a political crisis.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Rwanda said it will withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) because it hampers Kigali's membership in other regional blocs.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, Serbian authorities began excavating what appeared to be a mass grave, at an abandoned quarry on a border zone between Serbia and Kosovo, containing the bodies of more than 350 Kosovo Albanians. Witnesses reported seeing four trucks unload bodies in the area of Raska, near the border with Kosovo in 1999 during a Serbian crackdown. A 3-day search yielded no human remains.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 5, In Spain the Basque separatist group ETA called off its 15-month-old cease-fire, formalizing what many saw as the demise of a once-promising peace process already struck down by a deadly bombing in December.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Spanish media said a court has ordered police to capture and search two vessels belonging to a Florida firm that recently announced it had found a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean laden with an estimated $500 million worth of Colonial-era treasure.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Abdel Nur, a Guyanese national and the fourth suspect in an alleged plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, surrendered in Trinidad.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Zimbabwe's electricity provider raised tariffs for both domestic and commercial customers by 50 percent at a time when a major outage has left large parts of the country without power.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, A Vatican engineer said some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Bob Barker taped his last episode of CBS' "The Price Is Right."
(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, The United States said it has canceled the visas of 22 Costa Rican immigration officials suspected of selling visa stamps so that Costa Ricans could stay illegally in the US without getting caught.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Los Angeles based Colony Capital LLC, private investment firm, said it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Libyan state-owned Tamoil in a deal that valued the Italy-based refiner at 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion), double earlier estimates. Colony, founded in 1991 by Thomas Barrack, focuses on real estate-related assets, securities, and operating companies. In March, 2008, the deal was reported to be off.
(Reuters, 6/6/07)(Reuters, 3/3/08)
2007 Jun 6, Adam Gault (41), a dog trainer in Bloomfield, Conn., was arrested with two women who lived in his home after police with a search warrant found a missing 15-year-old girl locked in a hidden room in the house. The girl had vanished last June. Gault later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, Police arrested a man in the abduction and death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, whose body was found in a Missouri park four days after she'd disappeared from a Kansas store's parking lot.
(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, The Ducks of Florida won the Stanley Cup in game 5 over the Senators.
(WSJ, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 6, In southern Afghanistan 2 NATO soldiers died battling militants, while US-led and Afghan troops backed by airstrikes killed two militants and detained nine others. In northern Afghanistan 3 gunmen fatally shot a female owner of a radio station. A battle and airstrikes in southern Afghanistan left 30 suspected Taliban dead or wounded.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Algeria one person was killed and 8 injured in a powerful bomb blast in the Kabylie region.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, The CAR government freed 17 people who had been arrested for rebel activities, following the terms of a peace accord that aims to return the restive nation to stability after more than a year of sporadic insurgency.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, In north China Song Pingshun (61), head of Tianjin's advisory committee to the national legislature, died in an apparent suicide amid a probe into alleged bribe-taking and shady real estate deals by at least three high-level officials.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 6, Colombia’s Pres. Uribe arrived in Washington DC for his 2nd lobbying trip in a month. A US congressional sub-committee had voted to cut aid by 10% and shift it from military to social programs.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.44)
2007 Jun 6, President Oscar Arias announced that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China, delivering a blow to the Asian island's fragile international standing.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In the Dominican Rep. a gym teacher opened fire at a school, killing one student and wounding another before using the gun to take his own life.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, PM Andrus Ansip said Estonia is seeking help from Russia to find the culprits behind a massive wave of attacks on the country's Internet infrastructure.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Housing prices in the major cities of Estonia, Latia and Lithuania were reported to average around $202,375.
(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.B9)
2007 Jun 6, A government prosecutor said Ethiopia has charged 55 opposition members with trying to launch a rebellion. More than one hundred opposition figures were already on trial, accused of plotting a coup after disputed 2005 elections.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, German police used water cannon to scatter stone-throwing demonstrators as several thousand protesters gathered at a seven-mile fence surrounding the G8 summit meeting involving President Bush and other leaders.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Car bombings shook the streets leading to Baghdad's most revered Shiite Muslim shrine, and police reported at least seven people were killed and 27 others wounded. Assassins killed a police official and an aide to Iraq's pre-eminent Shiite cleric. A Sunni insurgent group said it has reached a cease-fire with al-Qaida in Iraq. 4 US soldiers were killed in separate incidents over the last 2 days.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Malaysia Nyambang Entuhan (37) shot and killed five people during a wedding reception on remote Borneo island. In 2010 he was sentenced to death as well as to 22 years in prison for wounding nine others and illegal firearm possession.
(AP, 5/8/10)(http://tinyurl.com/22qhgzv)
2007 Jun 6, It was reported that Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors. The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2). Alcohol powder, classified as a flavoring, was sold in the United States three years ago.
(Reuters, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Nigeria's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by women for her book “Half of a Yellow Sun," becoming the first African to take the award in its 12-year history.
(AP, 6/6/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 6, A Palestinian security force fanned out in two neighborhoods of the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon to prevent further clashes between Islamic militants and Lebanese troops. Maj. Gen. Khaled Aref, a senior Fatah commander based in Ein el-Hilweh, said on Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television that about 20 Fatah Islam fighters had surrendered to his group in besieged Nahr el-Bared.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Morocco said scientists from Morocco, Britain, France and Germany had dated perforated shells in a limestone cave in eastern Morocco to 82,000 years ago, the oldest adornments ever found.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, A senior official said Nigeria's anti-graft agency has summoned 15 former governors over corruption charges involving millions of dollars and they are due to appear before investigators.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Cyclone Gonu battered Oman's coast on its path toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route. It waned after killing 49 in Oman and 9 people in Iran, where severe flooding encircled over 100 villages.
(AP, 6/7/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 6, Pakistan's PM Shaukat Aziz ordered the immediate withdrawal of complaints initiated against about 200 journalists after they defied a ban on rallies to protest curbs on the media.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks in Colombo with a top Japanese envoy on the future of the island's peace process following bloody recent clashes. A bomb detonated by suspected Tamil rebels derailed a train in eastern Sri Lanka.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, A premature report said several thousand Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there. Turkey declared several areas near the border with Iraq to be "temporary security zones" in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign against Kurdish rebels. Turkey's foreign minister denied there was a cross-border operation.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 6, The UN and African Union chief executives resolved a dispute over command of a proposed joint military force to help end bloodshed in Darfur, but the deal still must be approved by their organizations' security councils and Sudan's government.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia. The leftist Latin American bloc announced the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, The US Senate’s immigration overhaul died on a procedural vote, killed by Democrats and Republicans alike.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that US prosecutors have opened an inquiry into allegations that a Kuwaiti contractor used foreign workers against their will in building the US Embassy in Baghdad.
(WSJ, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, Sanjaya Bahel (57), former UN chief of the Commodity Procurement Section (1999-2003), was convicted in NYC of helping a friend secure $100 million in UN contracts in exchange for a huge discount on two luxury apartments in Manhattan and cash.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A10)
2007 Jun 7, A coalition of human rights groups published the names of 39 terror suspects it believes are being secretly imprisoned by US authorities.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, After three days in jail for a reckless-driving probation violation, Paris Hilton was released by Los Angeles County sheriff's officials because of an undisclosed medical condition to be sent home under house arrest. The next day, a judge ordered Hilton back to jail.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 7, Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes, produced baseball-size hail and dropped more than 6 inches of rain across the Upper Midwest, killing a swimmer in Illinois. Four people in Wisconsin were injured, none seriously. A northern Wisconsin resort was demolished by one of at least five tornadoes that swept across the state.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, PepsiCo Inc., the nation's second biggest soft drink company, and an affiliated Midwest-based beverage bottler said they will pay $542 million for an 80% stake in Sandora LLC, a Ukraine-based juice company.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, Scientists reported how it might be possible to turn an ordinary skin cell into an embryonic stem cell.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, A study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said vitamin D is a powerful cancer fighter, cutting some types by 60% in elderly women.
(WSJ, 6/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that UCSF researchers had identified a new species of bacteria, Bartonella rochalimae, in an American tourist who was sickened after spending 3 weeks trekking in Peru. It was named after Henrique da Rocha-Lima, a Brazilian scientist who decades ago identified the bacterium that causes typhus.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 7, A new study showed that Yoga's postures, controlled breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by anxiety or depression.
(www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=604890)
2007 Jun 7, In Afghanistan 6 people were arrested in the killing of a woman who owned a radio station. 4 kidnapped Afghan medical workers were released after the body of a slain top Taliban commander was retrieved by his family. Suspected militants attacked a government compound in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, killing a policeman and wounding 3 others. An Afghan soldier was killed in a mine explosion in Zabul province. In eastern Nangarhar province, coalition and Afghan troops killed a militant during a firefight in Khogyani district. In Arghistan district, a police operation against Taliban fighters killed or wounded nine of the militants. In Zabul province, a two-hour gun battle killed one policeman and four Taliban.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Arghistan district, a police operation against Taliban fighters killed or wounded nine of the militants. In Zabul province, a two-hour gun battle killed one policeman and four Taliban.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, British media reported that Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan pocketed about $2 billion in secret payments as part of an $80 billion arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia first signed in 1985.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A16)
2007 Jun 7, The Bollywood Oscars was formally launched in England.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Europe's first train operated on environmentally friendly bio-fuel went into service with PM-designate Gordon Brown traveling on its maiden journey. The train, modified to run on a blended fuel which is 20% bio-diesel, will travel across England, south Wales and Scotland during a six-month experiment that has been organized by Virgin Trains.
(AFP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the G8 has agreed on a plan calling for "substantial cuts" to greenhouse gas emissions. Riot police used water cannons to turn protesters away from the fence surrounding the Group of Eight summit. G8 leaders reached an agreement on climate change, adopting a statement that says they should "seriously consider" proposals to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050. Russian President Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a US missile shield in Europe, told President Bush that Moscow would drop its objections if the radar-based system were installed in Azerbaijan.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/7/08)
2007 Jun 7, A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden truck at a police station in Rabia, near Iraq's border with Syria, killing at least 4 policemen and 5 civilians, and wounding 22 other people. In Ramadi 3 policemen were killed and four others wounded when a suicide driver blew up his automobile at their checkpoint. In Baghdad's eastern Sadr City district, a bomb beneath a parked car exploded at lunchtime outside a falafel restaurant. At least three people were killed and eight wounded. Mortar shells landing in two districts of western Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded 12 others. An Iraqi journalist was shot to death while she was waiting for a taxi in the northern city of Mosul. Iraq's bombings, shootings, mortar attacks and execution-style killings left at least 63 Iraqis dead nationwide. They included 32 unidentified men who were handcuffed, blindfolded and shot to death in Baghdad, apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that police and security forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have destroyed hundreds of acres of poppy fields and arrested 125 people.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Gunfights erupted in a Nairobi slum, killing at least 10 people, as police conducted house-to-house searches for members of an outlawed sect accused of terrorizing Kenyans and leaving behind a string of beheaded corpses.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In eastern Lebanon troops discovered three vehicles rigged with explosives during a raid on a hideout.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Thousands of lawyers, journalists and opposition activists staged a sit-in protest in the Pakistani city of Lahore, demanding President Gen. Pervez Musharraf resign for suspending a popular Supreme Court judge and enacting restrictions on the media.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, A battle between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip left one Fatah man dead before daybreak.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, The US ambassador to the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward to four Filipino informants whose tip led to the killing of the country's two top terror suspects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, An international conservation group said Russia has established the Zov Tigra National Park to protect Siberian tigers. According to the WWF the 200,000-acre park will protect the big cat's habitat while simultaneously allowing for nature tourism.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, South Africa launched a new scheme by which citizens in crime-ridden areas will be able to use text messages to anonymously tip-off the police. South African police used stun grenades and a water cannon to disperse striking hospital workers in the port city of Durban as a crippling public sector strike entered its 7th day.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Spain Monzer al-Kassar (61), a Syrian arms dealer previously accused of arming militants from Iraq to Somalia, was arrested on suspicion of plotting to send millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombian rebels. A federal indictment unsealed in NYC said al-Kassar has provided weapons and military equipment to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq. Tareq Mousa al Ghazi and Luis Filipe Moreno Godoy, also included in the indictment, were arrested in Romania.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, Police in Sri Lanka's capital rounded up hundreds of ethnic Tamils deemed a threat to security and bused them to Tamil regions in the north and east of the country.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Switzerland all 19 managers and consultants accused in the collapse of former national carrier Swissair were acquitted and will receive compensation totaling more than $2 million.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Zimbabwe received 15 million dollars worth of anti-retroviral drugs from the United States government to bolster its fight against HIV and AIDS.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The US froze bank accounts of four Iran banks tied to Tehran’s nuclear efforts. Iran confirmed for the first time that it is holding Ali Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen it has detained in recent months.
(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that bitter divisions over the Iraq war on Capitol Hill led the Bush administration to replace Gen. Peter Pace with Adm. Mike Mullen, currently chief of naval operations.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Mary Winkler, who'd killed her preacher husband with a shotgun blast to the back as he lay in bed, was sentenced in Selmer, Tenn., to three years in prison. She ended up serving 67 days in custody, 12 in jail and the rest in a mental health facility.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 8, Paris Hilton was sent screaming and crying back to jail after a judge in Los Angeles ruled she had to serve out her sentence for a probation violation behind bars rather than under house arrest.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 8, A European investigator issued a report saying the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate detainees in the war on terror.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Two inmates escaped while working at the Montana State Prison ranch near Deer Lodge. On June 13 authorities captured Kelly A. Frank and William J. Willcutt. Frank was once accused of plotting to kidnap the son and nanny of David Letterman.
(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 8, A patched-up Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts on the first space shuttle flight of 2007, an 11-day space station-building mission.
(AP, 6/8/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 8, Thomas G. Ayers (b.1915), former chief executive of Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison, died. Ayers retired a year after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.
(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 8, Richard Rorty (b.1931), philosophy professor, died in Palo Alto, Ca. His books included “Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979). In 2008 Neil Gross authored “Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher."
(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A2)(Econ, 6/14/08, p.103)
2007 Jun 8, Afghan Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet, a critic of some of the country's factional leaders and former warlords, was set upon in the middle of a traffic jam just outside Kabul by Gen. Din Mohammad Jurat, a senior official at the Interior Ministry. A roadside bomb exploded in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, killing three police officers and wounding four in a police vehicle. In the Spin Boldak district a roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded three others in a border police vehicle.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan is ready to consider proposed joint US-Russian use of a radar facility in the country as part of a missile defense system.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, A wild storm lashed Australia's east coast, killing at least five people. The Pasha Bulker, massive coal ship, was pushed onto a sand bank off the port city of Newcastle, some 90 miles north of Sydney.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Royal Navy's largest and most powerful attack submarine, the giant nuclear-powered HMS Astute, was given a beery royal launch.
(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Chile former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was put back under house arrest, a day after a Chilean prosecutor recommended his extradition to face charges of human rights abuses and corruption in his home country.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In southern China thousands of workers, mostly women, at a plastic Christmas tree factory clashed with police after a 10-day strike.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Germany the leaders of the G8 met with African leaders on their summit's concluding day, agreeing on a $60 billion package to fight disease in Africa as diplomats worked behind the scenes on a possible deal with Russia over Kosovo's future. The G8 powers called for action against "the perpetrators of atrocities" in Darfur and said it would back UN action against the Sudanese government and rebel groups if the conflict is not ended. President Bush was ill and stayed in his room after meeting privately with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported that the student wing of the Shiv Sena party, a right-wing Hindu group, has asked public Internet centers in India to partly block access to Orkut, and is making a software to monitor abusive communities on the popular social networking site operated by Google.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Indonesia Dago Simamora (59), a junior high-school teacher in South Sumatra, was shot dead by a killer on a motorcycle. It was later alleged that he was killed because he was accused of trying to convert girls in his class to Christianity. In 2009 ten members of the Palembang jihadist group that killed him were jailed on terrorism charges. One member said: “Dago Simamora was killed because he forbade his students to wear headscarves at school."
(Econ, 9/12/09, SR p.8)(http://tinyurl.com/mdzqrl)
2007 Jun 8, Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief's house outside Baqouba at dawn, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children. A parked minibus exploded at a bus terminal in the town of Qurnah, and a hospital director said at least 16 people were killed and 32 wounded. Bombings struck a Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding 14. Unknown gunmen speeding by in the northern city of Kirkuk shot and killed a soldier, Adnan Mahmoud, as he drove with his 2-year-old daughter. The child also was killed.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Italy the first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program opened in the absence of all 26 American defendants accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terrorist suspect.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Japanese government donated 9.25 million dollars (6.42 million euros) to UNICEF to support its child survival programs in Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Japan’s Inamori Foundation announced that a California-based earthquake scientist, Japanese chemist and German choreographer have won the $410,000 Kyoto Prize for achievement in the arts and sciences. The basic sciences award went to Hiroo Kanamori of the California Institute of Technology for his research on major earthquakes along the Pacific Rim; Hiroo Inokuchi at the University of Tokyo received the advanced technology award for his work in organic electronics; German choreographer Pina Bausch was awarded the arts and philosophy prize for her pioneering work in developing a new genre of ballet dubbed "Tanztheater," or dance theater. The prizes were awarded on Nov 10.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 11/11/07)
2007 Jun 8, Lebanese troops battled al-Qaida-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp where violence has raged for three weeks. The clashes in northern Lebanon came hours after a bombing in a Christian town northeast of Beirut killed at least one man.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported that Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the United States of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province 3 people were killed and five wounded when a roadside bomb blasted a passing bus.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, South Korea lifted a de facto ban on American beef imports, after the US confirmed that only two shipments meant for domestic consumption were exported mistakenly.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Spanish police arrested Arnaldo Otegi (48), the Basque separatist movement's most prominent politician, on a court order for him to start serving a 15-month sentence for defending terrorism. A judge indicted 32 people on charges of belonging to or collaborating with a militant group working in Spain to recruit fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Sri Lanka's highest court ordered police to stop expelling Tamils from the capital.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Zimbabwean government published a draft bill to amend the country's constitution, provide for harmonized presidential and parliamentary polls and reduce the presidential term. A party spokesman said 11 Zimbabwean opposition supporters, who had been detained for two months for an alleged "terrorism" plot, have been released after a court ordered the charges to be dropped.
(AFP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI discussed the pontiff's deep worries that Christians in Iraq would not be embraced by the Muslim majority. Bush, denounced by anti-American protesters on the streets of Rome, defended his humanitarian record as he met with the Pope. Bush met with PM Prodi for the first time several hours after seeing the pope.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 9, The Hawaiian canoe Hokulea sailed into the Japanese port of Yokohama, completing a five-month journey of more than 8,500 miles across the Pacific.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In NY the filly Rags to Riches outdueled Preakness winner Curlin in a breathtaking stretch run and won the Belmont Stakes by a head.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Delavan, Wisconsin, a shooting inside a home killed six people including twin baby boys. A 1-year-old daughter was found wounded in a nearby vehicle. Place later said Ambrosio Analco committed the murder and suicide.
(AP, 6/10/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 9, Boeing and Aeroflot signed a deal for the Russian carrier to acquire 22 Dreamliner jets from the American plane maker.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, J.L. Wade, Illinois bird house maven, died in Arizona. In 1963 he built his first purple martin bird houses in Griggsville, Illinois.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 9, In Afghanistan militants attacked three separate posts in Murghab district of Badghis province, sparking a six-hour long battle that left 20 suspected Taliban and two police killed. In southern Zabul province, NATO and Afghan troops clashed with militants and called in airstrikes, leaving 27 suspected Taliban insurgents dead in the district of Shinkay.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, Officials from Algeria and the US signed a protocol agreement which will pave the way towards closer cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Bosnia Karray Kamel bin Ali, alias Abu Hamza, Tunisian-born radical Islamist, was arrested near Zenica. This was several hours after he and possibly three or four others attacked a house owned by Zijad Kovac. 3 family members were wounded.
(http://isaintel.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45)
2007 Jun 9, China said it had rejected a shipment of pistachios from the US because it contained ants, the latest indication the government may be retaliating as Chinese products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns. Xinhua news agency said rain storms and floods have killed at least 40 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, A Cairo court ruled that a private Egyptian university can not ban a visiting student from entering its premises in full Islamic veil.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, An Egyptian girl (10) who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus died, bringing the number of fatalities from the disease in the most populous Arab country to 15.
(Reuters, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his government had launched a crackdown on a rebel group blamed for several attacks in the country's eastern Ogaden region. It was reported that the World Food Program and others were launching the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECEX).
(AFP, 6/9/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 9, Recent large seizures of cocaine confirmed that Guinea-Bissau had become a major drug distribution hub. The cocaine from Latin America arrived by boat and plane and was sent on to markets mostly in Europe. Guinea-Bissau’s army controlled the local trade.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)(Econ, 4/21/12, p.64)
2007 Jun 9, Indian officials said a group claiming to represent the al-Qaida terror network declared a holy war on India over its partial control of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Indonesian police captured Abu Dujana (37), a leader of the Southeast Asian terror network blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and a string of other devastating attacks in recent years. Indonesian police also captured Zarkasih (37), aka Mbah, the head of Southeast Asian extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for some of the deadliest terror attacks in the region.
(AFP, 6/13/07)(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 9, An apparent rocket attack at the US-run Camp Bucca detention facility in southern Iraq killed at least six detainees and wounded 50. 2 suicide bombers on foot blew themselves up at a police checkpoint at an intersection in Baqouba, killing a policeman and wounding three. A suicide car bomber driving a tanker truck struck an Iraqi army checkpoint at Iskandariyah, killing at least 13 soldiers. Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on police on a foot patrol in Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding another. A parked car exploded as a police patrol drove by in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 7. Clashes between American troops and Shiite militia left at least 5 people dead. An American soldier was killed by small-arms fire in Diyala province. The identification cards of two American soldiers missing since an attack on their unit in May were found in an al-Qaida safe house north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers and weapons.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 9, Jordanian police exchanged gunfire with a small group of armed men suspected of stealing electricity and water in a town near the Israeli border. One of the gunmen was killed and several were arrested.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, A concrete wall collapsed onto a maze of homes in a Kenyan slum, killing at least 10 people, including three babies.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Palestinian gunmen from Gaza broke through Israel's border fortifications and battled Israeli troops near an army post. Israeli Army Radio said troops killed one of the raiders. Medics at a northern Gaza Strip hospital walked off their jobs for a few hours to protest the kidnapping and shooting of a doctor by Palestinian militants, the first physician targeted in months of deadly infighting.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Lebanon's army pounded Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in renewed heavy clashes following a few days of intermittent fighting.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf withdrew new curbs on media covering Pakistan's growing political crisis, backing down after a week of nationwide protests by journalists and opposition parties. Pakistan said it will join an international initiative aimed at keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. The initiative, however, only applies to civilian "facilities and activities."
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, The Philippines and Laos, during a visit of Laotian PM Bouasone Bouphavanh, signed an agreement hoping to boost the minuscule trade between them and encourage their first investment links.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Romania police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at the annual gay rights parade in Bucharest.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Russia's most vocal opposition movement, headed by former chess champion Garry Kasparov, demonstrated in St. Petersburg without police violence or interference for the first time in months of protests.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ousmane Sembene (84), Senegalese writer and film maker, died. He was often called the “Father of African Cinema." His 1st novel was “Le Docker Noir" (1956). His first feature film was “Le Noire de …" (Black Girl), made in 1966.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.D5)
2007 Jun 9, Thailand deported 163 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos who authorities said had entered the country illegally in recent years trying to reach a large refugee camp.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Venezuelan authorities seized 2.5 tons of cocaine bound for Africa and arrested nine suspects including four federal police officers and a US citizen.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, HBO concluded "The Sopranos," created by David Chase, with its 86th show since 1999.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, "Spring Awakening" was named best musical at the Tony Awards; "The Coast of Utopia," best play.
(AP, 6/10/08)
2007 Jun 10, The crews of Atlantis and the international space station greeted each other after the space shuttle arrived at the orbiting outpost.
(AP, 6/10/08)
2007 Jun 10, In central Afghanistan Taliban militants fired rockets near a school yard where President Hamid Karzai was meeting with local leaders and residents in an apparent assassination attempt, but no one was hurt.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, President Bush in Albania, the 1st visit there by an American president, said the UN should grant independence quickly to the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, and that if Russia continued to block it the West would act. Albania issued three postage stamps with Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty, renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor, awarded him the highest National Flag medal and Fushe Kruje town council also declared him an honored citizen.
(Reuters, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 10, Algerian security forces said they have arrested 13 minors and dismantled a suspected training camp used by an al-Qaeda linked group east of the capital Algiers.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Belgians voted in legislative elections widely expected to hand defeat to PM Guy Verhofstadt, dashing his hopes for a third term after eight years in office.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In Brazil millions of people packed the streets of Sao Paulo for what organizers said was the world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and waving rainbow flags in a carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racism and sexism.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In Brunei a two-week lavish wedding celebration for the daughter of Brunei's sultan, one of the world's richest men, culminated in a ceremony steeped in the royal tradition.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A human rights group issued a report saying China is forcing nomadic Tibetan herders to settle in towns to clear land for development, leaving many unable to earn a living.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In southern Colombia 2 drunken soldiers shot and killed six civilians, including a nine-year old boy, after arguing with guests at a party.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, New Episcopal Bishop Nerva Cot Aguilera, the church's first female bishop in Cuba and the developing world, was consecrated at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Havana.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, France held parliamentary elections. President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to revive France's economy and its identity stood their first test, with voters widely expected to give allies of their new conservative leader a mandate for change. In round one of Sarkozy’s UMP party won 39.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition Socialists had 24.7 percent. The results gave the conservatives a strong advantage heading into the decisive runoff next Sunday.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, The first high-speed rail link between France and Germany began scheduled services, slashing travel times and marking a major step towards a truly pan-European rapid transit network.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In northern Iraq a suicide truck bomber struck an Iraqi police agency in Tikrit, killing at least 10 people. A roadside bomb struck a police patrol near a gas station in Balad Ruz, killing one policeman and wounding 6 other people. A suicide car bomber smashed into a police patrol about 12 miles south of the provincial capital of Baqouba, killing two policemen and wounding 3. A village police chief northeast of Baqouba was abducted by gunmen who ambushed his car. Gunmen elsewhere in Diyala province killed two policemen and a civilian in separate attacks in a Shiite enclave A roadside bomb killed a US airman and wounded another in southern Iraq. A suicide strike on a vital bridge outside Baghdad killed 3 American soldiers guarding the span.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, Israeli aircraft fired on militant targets in Gaza City in predawn airstrikes, hours after Palestinian gunmen breached Israel's heavily fortified Gaza border and tried to capture an Israeli soldier. Rival Palestinian forces clashed in Gaza. 2 militants were killed after being thrown out of high-rise buildings.
(AP, 6/10/07)(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A7)
2007 Jun 10, Former Polish president and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa said he has published on the Internet about 500 pages of files kept on him by the communist-era secret police in order to disprove allegations he collaborated with them in the 1980s.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for creating an alternative to the World Trade Organization that would favor developing economies and suggested giving a greater role to regional currencies.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A small bomb exploded outside a clothing shop in Istanbul, injuring 14 people and shattering nearby windows.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Sweden’s telecoms network firm Ericsson signed a framework agreement to provide $1 billion worth of networking equipment to China Mobile Communications Corp.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 11, Pres. Bush arrived in Bulgaria and met with President Georgi Parvanov.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Republicans blocked a Senate no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, rejecting a symbolic Democratic effort to force him from office amid blistering criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
(AP, 6/11/08)
2007 Jun 11, A divided panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the Bush administration could not use new anti-terrorism laws to keep US residents locked up indefinitely without charging them.
(AP, 6/11/08)
2007 Jun 11, NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city will incorporate biofuel made from corn and soybeans into oil used to heat city buildings starting in 2008.
(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Texas 3 National Guardsmen were arraigned on charges of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 11, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig (62) was arrested by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis airport. The conservative three-term senator pleaded guilty on Aug 8, paid $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year.
(AP, 8/28/07)
2007 Jun 11, The Blackstone IPO filing said CEO Stephen Schwarzman (60) made $398 million in 2006. He stood to make another $677 million in the IPO.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.C3)
2007 Jun 11, Yahoo Inc. said China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, a day after the mother of a Chinese reporter announced she was suing the US company for helping officials imprison her son.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Mala Powers (b.1931), American film star, died in Burbank, Ca. Her films included Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and “Outrage" (1950).
(SFC, 6/14/07, p.B4)
2007 Jun 11, In Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, a suicide car bomber blew himself up as police were approaching to search his vehicle at a checkpoint in Gurbuz district. The US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 24 suspected Taliban fighters during a battle in the south.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 11, In southeastern Bangladesh at least 130 people were killed in Chittagong and other districts and many others were injured in mudslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains.
(AFP, 6/11/07)(AFP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 11, Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt's Liberal-Socialist coalition government resigned, a day after conservatives, led by Christian Democrats, posted big gains in general elections.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Bosnia thousands of survivors of Europe's worst massacre since WW II protested in Sarajevo, demanding a special administrative status for the town of Srebrenica and saying it should not be run by Bosnian Serb authorities who were responsible for genocide there.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In London, England, Mahmod Mahmod (52), a Kurdish father who ordered his daughter brutally slain for falling in love with the wrong man in a so-called "honor killing," was found guilty of murder. In early 2006 Banaz Mahmod (20) was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a back garden. In 2007 Mahmod Mahmod, and uncle Ari Mahmod, were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jun 11, Cuba's largest foreign investor, Canada’s Sherritt International Corp., saw business running smoothly under acting President Raul Castro and will push ahead with a $1.2 billion expansion in nickel mining, and oil and electricity production.
(Reuters, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In the Central African Republic a French aid worker for Doctors Without Borders was shot and killed while traveling to a town grappling with poor health conditions.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened to cancel the contracts of companies using child labor and violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products. The country's chief veterinarian said Blue ear disease, blamed for a surge in politically sensitive pork prices, has spread to 22 Chinese provinces and regions. State media said Chinese authorities are investigating the widespread sale of fake blood protein to hospitals and pharmacies, a practice that deprives patients of a crucial medical need.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Police barred voters from polling stations and arrested about 100 opposition members, as Egyptians chose members of the upper chamber of parliament in an election marred by violence that killed one person. President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party won a majority of seats in elections for Egypt's upper house of parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the elections for their unprecedented fraud.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, An Ethiopian court convicted 38 opposition activists in a trial stemming from violent unrest that followed disputed elections in 2005.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Indonesia's tropical rain forests were disappearing 30 percent faster than previously estimated as illegal loggers raid national parks, threatening the long-term survival of orangutans, according to a new UN report.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Iran announced it will help build five new refineries across Asia with a total capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day in a bid to strengthen ties in the region. The refineries will be built in China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Syria.
(AFP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, The Iraqi Parliament voted in a closed session to remove the speaker after a series of embarrassing scandals involving the lawmaker. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani will be replaced by another Sunni Arab. Treasury chief Gordon Brown, Britain's next prime minister met with Iraqi leaders in a surprise visit following promises to study his country's participation in the conflict. A parked truck bomb destroyed a bridge carrying traffic over the Diyala River in Baqouba. At least 11 Iraqis were killed in attacks.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 11, Israel's military launched a spy satellite. A senior official suggested it could help keep track of developments in Iran.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Officials gathered in Kazakhstan for a 2-day meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. 37 of 51 Global Initiative partner nations, along with the IAEA and European Union as observers, assessed current plans to enhance the partnership capacity of Global Initiative nations and discussed new ways to combat nuclear smuggling and other terrorist acts. 2 days of talks produced a 10-year action plan.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.68)(www.usembassy.kz/)
2007 Jun 11, In Kenya an explosion went off outside a hotel in downtown Nairobi during morning rush hour, killing two people, injuring more than 30.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Lebanon 2 local Red Cross workers helping coordinate negotiations between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants were shot to death at the Nahr el-Bared camp. Fighting also killed 4 soldiers.
(AP, 6/11/07)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 11, Mexican police and soldiers arrested three men during an operation to fight illegal logging in a mountain region south of Mexico City where environmentalist Aldo Zamora (21) was killed on May 15.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In the Netherlands an international conference on endangered species banned almost all trade in sawfish, large shark-like rays, whose long snouts bristling with teeth are in high demand among collectors.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Hostage takers in Nigeria's restive oil heartland released 13 captives, including three Americans.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Fighting between Palestinian factions left 12 people dead.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A16)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 11, In Ankara, Turkey, funerals for three soldiers killed in a roadside bombing by Kurdish rebels turned into anti-government protests as thousands of mourners called on leaders to resign over their failure to rein in the violence.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 12, President Bush went to Capitol Hill, where he prodded rebellious Senate Republicans to help resurrect legislation that could provide eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
(AP, 6/12/08)
2007 Jun 12, The CDC said up to 75,000 US Marine family members may have drunk water at Camp Lejeune tainted by dry-cleaning fluid over a 30-year period.
(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)(www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/)
2007 Jun 12, A report on CEO compensation said Terry Semel of Yahoo topped the list with $71.7 million in annual pay. Half of American CEO’s made over $8.3 million.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.C5)
2007 Jun 12, In SF Supervisor Ed Jew surrendered under charges that he lied about where he lived in order to run for office. Jew posted bail and was released. The SF school board approved a 3-year contract for Carlos Garcia offering the ex-superintendent of Nevada’s Clark County (Las Vegas) a salary of $255,000.
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/07, p.B4)
2007 Jun 12, In Texas Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader (25), an experienced soldier who lost contact during a training exercise on the sprawling Fort Hood Army base, was found dead after four days.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, Don Herbert (b.1917), who as television's "Mr. Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died in California at his suburban Bell Canyon home.
(AP, 6/12/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 12, Afghan police in Nangarhar province mistook US troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting US forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. 8 Afghan police were killed. Gunmen on motorbikes killed two schoolgirls in central Afghanistan. NATO and Afghan forces killed 12 Taliban fighters in Zabul province. A suicide bomber killed one policeman and wounded two in southern Helmand province.
(AP, 6/12/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, Australian PM John Howard agreed to meet the Dalai Lama after opponents charged he was afraid of offending China, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing. The Dalai Lama warned major nations not to try to contain China's economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
(AP, 6/12/07)(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In Australia outraged victims in the Hunter and Central Coast areas north of Sydney said looters raided abandoned houses, businesses and cars during four days of violent storms, stealing everything from iPods to alcohol and cigarettes.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In London Chinua Achebe (76), a Nigerian novelist, won the Booker Int’l. Prize for fiction, awarded every 2 years for a body of fiction. He is best known for his 1st book “Things Fall Apart" (1958).
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.E5)
2007 Jun 12, In Kinshasa, DRC, delegates from 20 African countries began talks on the process of disarming and reintegrating former combatants to boost peace and development on the violence-wracked continent.
(AFP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Baron Guy de Rothschild (b.1909), French banker, died. He managed his family's French banking empire and saw it taken over first during the Nazi occupation and then by a Socialist government 40 years later.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 12, Germany wrapped up one aspect of its Nazi past by shutting down a forced labor fund that paid out more than 4.37 billion euros to 1.7 million elderly victims of the Hitler era around the world.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Haitian police and UN peacekeepers killed a suspected gang leader wanted in the kidnap-slaying of a French businessman.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In Bali, Indonesia, a gathering of religious leaders and victims of terrorist attacks, sponsored by the US Libforall Foundation, denounced Iran’s president for claiming the Holocaust was a myth.
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun 12, Fierce clashes broke out between joint US-Iraqi forces and al-Qaida militants in Baqouba, leaving two Iraqi soldiers and six militants dead. Suspected Sunni insurgents bombed and badly damaged a span over the main north-south highway leading from Baghdad, the third bridge attack in as many days. Gunmen stormed the house of the Sunni mayor of Muqdadiyah, forcing the family members outside, then blowing up the house. The al-Qaida front group Islamic State in Iraq posted a video showing what it said were 14 captive members of the Iraqi security forces and threatening to kill them in 72 hours if their demands were not met. At least 45 people were killed or found dead including 9 soldiers and civilians in clashes and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 6/12/07)(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A10)
2007 Jun 12, Authorities said Italian police have recovered an ancient Greek temple dug up in southern Italy by a construction crew who had dumped or looted the prized artifacts and begun to pour cement over the ruins.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A team of Japanese researchers reported the development of a type of rice that can carry a vaccine for cholera. The vaccine would be delivered in a capsule or pill containing rice powder.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A11)
2007 Jun 12, Kurdish separatist rebels declared a "unilateral cease-fire" in attacks against Turkey and said they were ready for peace negotiations, but the group maintained the right to defend itself.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A senior official said security cameras are monitoring government workers in northeastern Malaysia to keep them from slacking off or vanishing for extended tea breaks.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, An official said Japan has agreed to offer direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, but will send it to president Mahmud Abbas and not Hamas militants.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In the Netherlands the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted Milan Martic (52), a wartime leader of Croatia's rebel Serbs, of murder, torture and persecution and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for the 1991-1995 brutal ethnic cleansing campaign of non-Serbs in Croatia.
(AP, 6/12/07)(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 12, Shahid Jamil Qureshi, Pakistan’s minister of state for communications, resigned after police named him as a suspect in the death of Kafila Siddiqui, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, at their shared home in Islamabad.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A rocket-propelled grenade hit the home of the Hamas prime minister, while his fighters captured several positions from the rival Fatah movement and threatened to step up the offensive. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused his Hamas rivals of staging a coup and called for a cease-fire.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Pres. Putin led ceremonies to honor Russia Day. The holiday is one of several that have been shifted or renamed as Putin's Kremlin seeks to shape Russia's image. It was introduced by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, to commemorate Russia's 1990 declaration of sovereignty and was long known to many as Independence Day.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said South Africa is to become the first African country to join an OECD convention requiring adherents to crack down on bribery of foreign public officials.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Sudan agreed to a "hybrid" UN-AU force of between 17,000 and 19,000 troops and an additional 3,700 police. Some diplomats feared conditions may be attached.
(Reuters, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, It was reported that the Hadzabe tribe of Tanzania, numbering fewer than 1,500, faced a hastening extinction following a government deal to lease 2,500 square miles of tribal hunting land to members of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Schools, roads and other projects were offered in compensation.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A20)
2007 Jun 13, A senior US diplomat said NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy. The Taliban claimed to have captured a NATO trooper. 20 militants were killed in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province. In nearby Zhari district six Taliban fighters were killed, including one commander. In southern Ghazni province 7 Taliban were killed and 4 others detained by police. A suicide attacker detonated his bomb near an Afghan army brigade commander in Gereshk district of Helmand province. In western Farah province two Afghans doing repair work on police vehicles were killed by Taliban militants. US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed a suspected militant and detained three others in a raid on a compound in eastern Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AFP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 13, Heavy snows hit the Andean border region of Argentina and Chile, forcing the closure of a key mountain highway connecting the two countries and idling thousands of trucks.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, British Home Secretary John Reid said the government is to run a pilot scheme giving convicted pedophiles drugs to suppress their libido, or so-called "chemical castration."
(AFP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Cambodian and foreign judges announced rules clearing the way for a UN-assisted genocide tribunal to begin investigating Khmer Rouge leaders in the deaths of 1.7 million people during their 1975-79 communist regime.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Canadian police arrested more than 60 suspected members of a criminal gang in a series of dawn raids in and around Toronto, in a crackdown on smuggling drugs and illegal firearms.
(Reuters, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, State media said China’s southern Guangdong province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people. State media also reported that Cheng Laifu, a teacher in northwestern China, has been sentenced to death for raping 18 primary school girls, the second such case in the same area. He was convicted of raping the 18 third- and fourth-grade students on 70 separate occasions between September 2001 and March 2005. The victims were 9 and 10. Xinhua News said that in July 2005, Li Guang, also a teacher in Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Serge Maheshe, a Congolese journalist working for the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi, was shot dead in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Bukavu. Police the next day arrested 2 soldiers for the killing.
(AFP, 6/13/07)(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 13, Iran's parliament voted in favor of a bill that could lead to the death penalty for persons convicted of working in the production of pornographic movies.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, The UN Security Council agreed to an Iraqi request to extend the mandate of the US-led multinational force after the country's foreign minister said the troops were "vitally necessary." Saboteur bombers destroyed the two minarets of the Shiite Askariya Shrine in Samarra. In Baghdad the 30 members of the Sadrist bloc in parliament issued a statement saying they were boycotting parliament until the government takes "realistic" steps to rebuild the Askariya shrine. The mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams, Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son, Hassan Askariya, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors. In Basra four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques. Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in a town near the Iranian border, killing five Iraqi policemen and wounding 10. In Ramadi a suicide bomber killed four policemen at a checkpoint. Near Kirkuk militants blew up part of a bridge in the country's 4th attack on a span in as many days. A US soldier died in a non-combat related incident.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 13, Ireland’s environmentalist Green Party, perennial outsiders in Irish politics, voted to join the next government and extend PM Bertie Ahern's 10-year run in power.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Elder statesman Shimon Peres (83) was elected Israel's ninth president, capping a campaign to extend his six-decade political career in a race marred by rape allegations against Moshe Katsav, the sitting president. Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister tossed out of office six years ago in a humiliating election defeat, won the leadership of the dovish Labor Party.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Lebanon lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent anti-Syrian legislator killed by a car bomb, which also killed his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Mongolia a helicopter carrying firefighters and equipment crashed into a mountain killing 14 of 22 aboard. The crash site was not discovered until June 16.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 13, Fierce battles over key security positions spread to central Gaza, with Hamas fighters wresting control of the coastal strip's main north-south road, and putting themselves in position to cut off reinforcements to beleaguered Fatah forces. At least 20 Palestinians died across Gaza.
(AP, 6/13/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 13, A Philippine court acquitted Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, of five counts of tax evasion. Of more than 900 criminal and civil cases, mostly for violation of graft and corruption laws during her husband's 20-year rule, 40 criminal cases and fewer than 20 civil suits remained. The government said it has recovered at least $1.7 billion in cash and assets from the Marcoses and their associates over two decades, including Swiss bank deposits now worth at least $680 million.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Puerto Rico Inter American University professor Leonardo Gamallo Sotolongo disappeared after going to pay Jorge Aguilera Enchautegui for work on his yard. Sotolongo’s body was found near a garbage dump two weeks later. On Feb 25, 2010, the FBI arrested Aguilera at a motel in Orlando, Florida, for carjacking and the slaying of Sotolongo.
(AP, 2/26/10)
2007 Jun 13, Global shipping officials warned that pirate attacks off Somalia's coast have spiraled to terrifying levels, with US and international navies failing to protect seafarers from being kidnapped.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In South Africa tens of thousands of public sector workers marched to government offices across the country, escalating a 12-day-old strike and bringing the largest cities to a standstill.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Sudan’s foreign ministry said Sudan has formally rejected an international conference on Darfur to be held in Paris this month because it was not consulted beforehand.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In southeastern Turkey Kurdish guerrillas killed a Turkish army major and injured two other soldiers in a roadside bomb attack.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Zimbabwe’s country's consumer watchdog said in its latest report that the cost of living for an average urban family rose by 66 percent last month.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 14, The San Antonio Spurs won their fourth NBA title in nine years as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 83-82 in Game 4.
(AP, 6/14/08)
2007 Jun 14, A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said US President George W. Bush's approval rating has plunged to a new low of 29 percent.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Mississippi Klansman James Ford Seale (71) was convicted on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. Seale faced life in prison with sentencing on Aug 24.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, A US panel said an obesity treatment made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis was unsafe and should not be marketed in the United States.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Channahon, Ill., 3 children and a woman were found shot to death in a sport utility vehicle parked just off a service road. On June 23 authorities charged Christopher Vaughn (32) with two murder counts per victim, saying he gunned down his family in their sport utility vehicle.
(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 14, Abel Diaz Lucas, also known as Jorge Guevara-Perez, was arrested in El Paso, Texas. The next day he was handed to Mexican authorities, who had been trying to find Diaz for five years. They accused him of running a central Mexico gang notorious for cutting off the fingers and ears of their victims and sending them to their families to demand ransom money.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, In California the Sonoma County Water Agency became the first water provider in the state since the early 1990s to institute mandatory rationing.
(SFC, 6/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 14, Colgate warned that a counterfeit toothpaste bearing its name has been found in four states and may contain diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(WSJ, 6/15/07, p.B3)
2007 Jun 14, In Australia New Zealand PM Helen Clark met briefly with the Dalai Lama as they both toured Australia, where the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit has drawn fire from China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Austria Kurt Waldheim (b.1918), former UN Secretary-General (1972-1982), died. He was elected Austrian president in 1986 despite an international scandal about his secretive World War II military service for the Nazis.
(AP, 6/14/07)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.97)
2007 Jun 14, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, visiting Japan, pledged to fight corruption to lure more investors from top donor Japan as he tries to wean his government away from foreign aid.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Canada said it had approved the idea of burying nuclear waste from its power plants deep in the ground at a single location, a proposal that green activists immediately condemned as too risky.
(Reuters, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Police in Henan province said they have rescued more than 200 people, including 29 children, who were working as "slaves" in brick kilns, in a shocking revelation of labor practices in booming China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Four soldiers were convicted of killing a truck driver and five passengers in Chechnya, but three of the defendants have been missing since disappearing while on trial.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Colombia’s Congress passed a bill to give established gay couples full rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security. This would make it the first Latin American country to provide such rights.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, A UN spokesman said that Ethiopia has accepted a UN commission's ruling to turn over the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea. In a letter last week to the UN Security Council, the Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the commission's decision announced five years ago.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Fiji's military ruler said he was expelling New Zealand's top diplomat, sending already strained relations between the South Pacific nation and one of its biggest neighbors spiraling even lower. Commodore Bainimarama said he had told New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Green to leave because the diplomat would not "stop interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs."
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, India's governing coalition chose Pratibha Patil (72), the governor of northwestern state of Rajashtan, as its presidential candidate, setting the stage for her to become the country's first female president. It was later reported that in the late 1970s she had favored compulsory sterilization for people with hereditary diseases. Reports also said that the Reserve Bank of India had shut down a women’s co-operative bank where she had given favorable loans to relatives.
(AP, 6/14/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.49)
2007 Jun 14, A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine. Attackers broke into the Hateen mosque in Iskandariyah and planted bombs inside. Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Talha Bin al-Zubair shrine about 13 miles outside Basra. They returned early the next day, planting bombs inside the structure that destroyed it. Insurgents linked to al-Qaida released a videotape showing the execution-style deaths of 14 Iraqi soldiers and policemen after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline for the Iraqi government to meet their demands. 3 US soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their vehicle during operations in Kirkuk province. A 4th soldier was killed by small arms fire in Diyala province.
(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Rifat Hadziahmetovic (39) of Montenegro and another "Pink Panther" member allegedly stole a diamond tiara worth 200 million yen (2.3 million dollars) and other gems from a jewelry store in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district. Hadziahmetovic was arrested in 2009 in Cyprus. In 2010 he was extradited to Japan from Spain for the robbery in Tokyo. The other suspect in the heist, Radovan Jelusic (39) was arrested in Rome in May in possession of a forged Croatian passport.
(AP, 8/14/10)
2007 Jun 14, More than $20 million in disputed North Korean funds was transferred from a blacklisted Macau bank, signaling a breakthrough in a dispute that has held up the North's pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In the Netherlands four African states (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe), after an 18-year ban, were allowed to put their ivory stocks on the market in a one-time sale as part of a hard-fought compromise reached with other Africans who tried to block the sale. The 171-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, approved the deal by consensus.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Nigerian separatist leader Mujahid Asari Dokubo, whose detention on treason charges since 2005 has sparked kidnappings in the oil-rich Niger Delta, was provisionally freed on health grounds. Militants freed 10 Indian hostages, including 2 women and 2 children.
(AFP, 6/14/07)(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 14, In eastern Pakistan thousands rallied against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, demanding the ouster of the military ruler for suspending the country's top judge. Gunmen opened fire on government troops in the southwestern city of Quetta, considered a Taliban hideout, shortly after the visit of a top US official, killing seven soldiers and two police.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared an emergency after the Hamas militant group effectively took control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas fighters overran one of the rival Fatah movement's most important security installations in the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said the victors dragged vanquished gunmen into the street and shot them to death execution-style. 14 fighters and civilians were killed and 80 wounded in the battle for the Preventive Security complex, bringing the day's death toll to 25 by mid-afternoon. Witnesses, Fatah officials and a doctor reported gangland-style killings of the defeated fighters. Palestinian security officials said an Israeli tank shell killed six people, including five children, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The clashes in Gaza left an estimated 116 people dead and over 500 wounded.
(AP, 6/15/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/14/08)
2007 Jun 14, In Puerto Rico 5 men robbed a Loomis Fargo armored car. The next day Angel Fernandez Ramos, a Puerto Rican police officer assigned to a DEA anti-drugs unit, was arrested and charged with carrying out the $515,000 armored car heist with three relatives and another man.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 14, Romania's government defended its decision to return "Dracula's Castle" to members of the former royal family, denying allegations that the decision was illegal.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In South Africa former UN chief Kofi Annan said he would head a new green group bankrolled by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to help reverse Africa's declining food production and double output.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Sudan’s press reported that 4 people were killed and at least 10 wounded when police dispersed residents in the Kijbar region of north Sudan protesting a dam project which they say will destroy their community.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, The Swiss National Bank raised interest rates by a quarter point.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.80)
2007 Jun 14, In insurgency-wracked southern Thailand a bomb exploded during a soccer match, wounding 14 police officers who were providing security.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 15, The US State Dept. feared foreign nations will retaliate after the Supreme Court said NYC can sue embassies over property taxes.
(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 15, The US Patent and Trademark office launched a one-year pilot program for a peer review of patent applications using an internet-based collaboration process.
(Econ, 9/8/07, TQ p.28)
2007 Jun 15, During his ethics trial, a tearful Mike Nifong announced he would resign as district attorney of Durham County, NC, after admitting that he'd made improper statements about three Duke University lacrosse players who were once charged with raping a stripper. The players were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, Retired "Price Is Right" host Bob Barker won his 19th Daytime Emmy.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, New international health regulations (IHRS) obliged governments to co-operate with Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, and report potential pandemics at once.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.67)
2007 Jun 15, In Tulsa, Okla., a crane lifted out a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that had been buried in an underground concrete vault half a century earlier to celebrate 50 years of statehood.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, In southern Afghanistan 2 suicide attackers blew themselves up near NATO convoys, killing five Afghan children, four civilian men and a foreign soldier. A soldier of the US-led coalition died from a combat wound after a clash in the eastern province of Paktika.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Australian PM John Howard met the Dalai Lama triggering an angry reaction from China who accused the premier of turning a "deaf ear" to its concerns. A government report said child sex abuse is rampant among Aborigines in remote northern Australia, blaming widespread drunkenness and the breakdown of traditional societies as among the root causes.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Brazil Marc Van Roosmalen was convicted of trying to illegally auction off the names of monkey species, keeping rare monkeys at his house without authorization and selling a scaffolding donated to the National Institute for Amazon Research where he worked. He was sentenced to 15 years and nine months in a prison. Roosmalen has claimed in media reports that he was framed by powerful logging and ranching interests that operate in the Amazon. In August Roosmalen was ordered released pending an appeal.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Jun 15, Britain announced the knighthood of author Salman Rushdie. This soon sparked rage among many Muslims.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.63)
2007 Jun 15, A London court jailed 7 Britons linked to a plot to blow up US financial institutions and stage a series of attacks in Britain, for a total of 136 years.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Activists in Bulgaria bought the freedom of the country’s last three dancing bears. They will get to rest their paws at a mountain sanctuary, in an apparent end to the centuries-old performance tradition in the Balkans. Bears had still performed, even though the practice was outlawed in 1993, when there were 20 to 30 such bears in the country.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Quebec, Canada, Premier Jean Charest said his province plans to ban firearms in educational institutions and on public transport as part of a clampdown in the wake of a college shooting last year.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, China’s state media said as many as 1,000 children may have been sold into slave labor in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, amid an expanding scandal about official neglect.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Areva, a French nuclear energy group under the direction of Anne Lauvergeon, announced a cash offer for UraMin, a Canadian start-up firm with mining assets in Namibia, the Central African Republic, and South Africa. The acquisition cost $2.5 billion. In late 2011 Areva took a $2 million charge against the acquisition.
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/822j7j9)
2007 Jun 15, In Guatemala villagers in Muyurco killed a woman and attacked two others after accusing them of kidnapping a 9-year-old girl who was later found dead.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 15, Human Rights Watch reported that tens of thousands of elementary school-age girls work in Guinea for no pay as household servants in conditions akin to slavery.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Iran was reported to have denied allegations of abuse saying it has forced Afghan laborers back home because the 1.5 million undocumented migrants are an enormous burden on its economy.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, The US launched a large offensive operation in several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad. The remains of 13 members of an Iraqi taekwondo team kidnapped last year were found near the main highway leading to Jordan. US attack helicopters killed four suspects and wounded three in operations south of Baghdad. An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad and an Ohio National Guard pilot was killed when his F-16 fighter crashed shortly after takeoff from Balad Air Base in central Iraq.
(AP, 6/15/07)(AP, 6/16/07)(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 15, Lebanese troops raided an Islamic militant position inside a besieged Palestinian refugee camp, sparking a battle that killed at least four soldiers in renewed fighting.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Mexico the government of Oaxaca apologized for the first time for a police raid on protesters last year that led to the country's worst political unrest in years.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Nigeria military and industry sources said gunmen have kidnapped several foreigners in the main oil-producing region of southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Fayyad to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was fired after his Hamas group violently took control of the Gaza Strip. On its first day of full rule in Gaza, the Islamic militant Hamas granted amnesty to Fatah leaders, signaling that it seeks conciliation with the defeated forces of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In the southern Philippines bombs went off on buses just a few minutes apart, killing eight people and wounding at least 14 others.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 15, The Gulf state of Qatar tightened its grip on J Sainsbury, Britain's third biggest supermarket chain, by raising its stake to 25%, sparking speculation it may launch a takeover.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Russia's security agency announced an espionage investigation based on statements by the suspect in Andrei Litvinenko's radiation poisoning, a move apparently targeting a Kremlin foe in Britain.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, On the island of Sardinia 2 trains collided head-on, killing a 27-year-old British woman and two Italians.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Swiss officials inaugurated the Loetschberg Base Tunnel, the world's longest overland tunnel, a 34.6-kilometer-long (21-mile-long) rail link under the Alps meant to ease highway traffic jams.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In northeastern Taiwan 2 trains collided, killing 5 people and injuring 16 others.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In southern Thailand a roadside bomb and shootings killed seven soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces this year.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 16, A North Carolina State Bar disciplinary committee said disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong would be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.
(SSFC, 6/17/07, p.A4)(AP, 6/16/08)
2007 Jun 16, In Oregon a head-on collision killed Marion County Deputy Kelly Fredinburg (33) and the passenger of driver Alfredo de Jesus-Ascencio, who was later indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide. In 2017 Jesus-Ascencio (29) was mistakenly released and then caught ten months later in Michoacan state, Mexico.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8q67mw2)(SFC, 12/26/17, p.A4)
2007 Jun 16, In Selmer, Tenn., a drag-racing car lost control during a parade and careened into a crowd, killing 6 people and injuring up to 15 others. In 2008 an indictment was unsealed charging Troy Critchley (38) with 6 counts of vehicular homicide and 22 counts of reckless aggravated assault.
(AP, 6/17/07)(SFC, 3/21/08, p.A4)
2007 Jun 16, US astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams set a record aboard the international space station for the longest single spaceflight by any woman, surpassing the record of 188 days set by astronaut Shannon Lucid at the Mir space station in 1996.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2007 Jun 16, In Afghanistan suicide bombers targeting foreign forces struck two Afghan cities, killing four civilians, and a US soldier at one of the attacks "accidentally" shot dead a bystander. Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched raids on police posts near the strategic town of Chora in Uruzgan province, forcing NATO, backed by fighter jets, to respond.
(AFP, 6/16/07)(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 16, Planes remained grounded at Brussels south Charleroi airport as a strike by security officers entered a second day.
(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, China’s state media said that a total of 548 slave laborers have been freed in the past month from brick kilns and other illegal job sites in central China where they were starved, beaten and forced to work 14 hours or more per day.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Voting began in some overseas French territories in the final round of parliamentary elections expected to give conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy a big majority for his reform plans.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, It was reported that a coin shortage had gripped Calcutta, India. Bank officials investigated claims that coins were being melted down to make razor blades.
(SFC, 6/16/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 16, In Iraq bombers loaded into pickup trucks pulled up to the al-Ashrah al-Mubashra mosque in Basra's al-Hakimiya district. Minutes after they left, a huge explosion tore through the building, leveling it. A British soldier died after a road accident in southern Iraq.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, North Korea sent a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog, inviting inspectors to the country to discuss procedures for shutting down its main nuclear reactor. Top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said technical problems in Russia are holding up the transfer of North Korean funds linked to a nuclear disarmament deal.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, The US strengthened its offer of support for President Mahmoud Abbas, telling him an international aid embargo against the Palestinians would end as soon as he forms a new government without Hamas.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Spanish police, working with US and British authorities, seized four tons of cocaine aboard a ship off the northwest coast.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 16, Thailand's military-installed government offered to negotiate with ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra over his recently frozen assets, as thousands of people protested in support of the former leader.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Official media said Vietnam has confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005, as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks. Tests confirmed that a 20-year-old from northern Ha Tay province died from the H5N1 virus on June 10.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 16, Representatives of both sides said Yemen's government and Shiite rebels have reached a cease-fire in a three-year fight that has claimed 4,000 lives this year.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 17, An enormous bomb ripped through a police academy bus at Kabul's busiest transportation hub, killing at least 35 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001. The dead included 22 police academy instructors and 13 bystanders. The Taliban claimed responsibility. In Paktika province US-led jets targeted a compound that also contained a mosque and a madrassa, or Islamic school, resulting in the death of seven boys, ages 10 to 16.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.51)
2007 Jun 17, CAR state radio said former rebels in the Central African Republic have signed a pact with the UN children's agency for the demobilization of hundreds of child soldiers.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, President Nicolas Sarkozy looked set to win a powerful majority as the French voted in runoff elections for parliament. Sarkozy won a comfortable majority but not the crushing victory predicted in polls.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 17, Iran said it had received indications from Russia's president that he would not follow through with an offer to allow the US to use a radar station in neighboring Azerbaijan for missile defense against Tehran.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Baghdad sprang to life after a four-day curfew to thwart violence following a provocative attack on a Shiite shrine. A car bomb killed two Kurdish security agents in Iraq's oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. A roadside bomb went off next to an Iraqi police patrol in Nasiriyah, wounding two policemen. US attack helicopters killed four suspects and wounded three in operations south of Baghdad. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb while on a foot patrol in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 17, In Italy Gianfranco Ferre (b.1944), known as the "architect of fashion," died in Milan. He was the top designer for Christian Dior from 1989-1996.
(SFC, 6/18/07, p.A2)(AP, 6/17/08)
2007 Jun 17, Authorities in Montenegro arrested Vlastimir Djordjevic, Serbia's assistant interior minister and chief of the Public Security Department (1997-2001), wanted for murder and persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Thousands of Pakistanis braved the rain in Faisalabad to cheer the country's top judge, keeping the pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to end a crisis over the chief justice's ouster.
(AFP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency Cabinet and outlawed the militia forces of the Islamic Hamas movement, deepening the violent rupture in Palestinian society.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, A Syrian court found 7 pro-Democracy advocates guilty of endangering the state and sentenced them 5 to 7 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A7)
2007 Jun 18, US Supreme Court justices ruled 9-0 that car passengers have the same right as drivers to challenge the legality of police stops of vehicles in which they are riding.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, NYC officials detailed an experimental anti-poverty program whereby poor residents will be rewarded for good behavior, like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In California a citizen’s commission, appointed by the governor, voted to raise the compensation of legislators and most constitutional officers by 2.75%.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 18, Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel ended his six-year tenure as chief executive officer, handing over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/18/08)
2007 Jun 18, In Florida Avion Lawson (14) and Nathan Walker (16) were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into a woman's apartment in a crime-ridden housing project. The 2 teenagers were later accused of gang raping the woman and forcing her son (12) to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jun 18, Torrential overnight rainfall flooded a handful of North Texas towns killing at least 4. People and their pets were stranded on the roofs of their homes awaiting rescue.
(AP, 6/18/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, In Charleston, SC, a fire swept through a furniture warehouse, collapsing the building's roof and claiming the lives of nine firefighters.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Utah an 11-year-old boy was dragged from a tent and killed by a black bear in American Fork Canyon.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 18, In Berkeley, Ca., Kevin Morrissey (51), overwhelmed by financial worries, shot and killed his wife and 2 children in Tilden Park.
(SFC, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, Hank Medress (68), singer, died in Manhattan of lung cancer. His vocals with the doo wop group the Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to the top of the charts in 1961. He also produced hits with other groups.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 18, Afghan insurgents said they had captured mountainous Myanishen district in the southern province of Kandahar.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Afghan officials said more than 100 people, including militants, civilians and police, have died in three days of fierce clashes between NATO forces and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. Insurgents said they had captured mountainous Myanishen district in the southern province of Kandahar.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Australia a good Samaritan who tried to rescue a woman being dragged by her hair on a busy Melbourne street was shot dead and two other people were wounded when her attacker opened fire. On June 20 a Hells Angel biker was charged with the murder after surrendering to authorities.
(AFP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, Canada introduced a no-fly list to ground potential air passengers "who may pose an immediate threat to aviation security" and tried to play down concerns that the list could be abused.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Researchers reported that the first skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered in China and estimated to be at least 2 million years old. The animal, formally known as Ailuropoda microta, or "pygmy giant panda," would have been about 3 feet long, compared to the modern giant panda, which averages in excess of five feet.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Colombia 11 kidnapped former state lawmakers held hostage for five years were killed after a military attack on the jungle camp where they were being kept. The Web site of the left-wing news agency ANNCOL carried the statement on June 28.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 18, Vilma Espin Guillois (77), a guerrilla warrior and women's rights pioneer, died. She was the first lady of the Cuban revolution and wife of acting Pres. Raul Castro.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, The Gulf emirate of Dubai announced it had bought the Queen Elizabeth 2, one of the world's most majestic cruise liners, and planned to turn it into a luxury floating hotel.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In eastern Germany a bus veered off a highway and fell into a roadside ditch, killing 13 people and injuring about 30.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Authorities said British police, with aid from US investigators, have shattered a global Internet pedophile ring, rescuing 31 children and rounding up more than 700 suspects worldwide.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In France Airbus racked up a series of big orders at the opening of the Paris Air Show. Airbus announced that it had booked firm orders or letters of intent to order for 339 aircraft, a record figure, for a value of 45.7 billion dollars (34.1 billion euros) at catalogue prices.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Officials said 2 high schools in Mumbai have banned pupils from holding hands, kissing or touching on campus, warning that they will face disciplinary action if caught.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Iraqi and US forces began major military operations to the north and south of Baghdad. PM Nouri al-Maliki fired the Basra police chief over his force's failure to stop weekend attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq's second-largest city. In southern Baghdad, two parked car bombs exploded near a gas station, killing at least seven people lined up to buy fuel. Gunmen nearby ambushed an Interior Ministry convoy, killing an Iraqi colonel and his two guards. 4 civilians were killed and 13 injured when a parked car bomb ripped through a busy vegetable market in Fallujah. At least 20 people were killed by coalition airstrikes in Amarah. Iraqi officials said 36 people died in fighting that erupted as British and Iraqi forces conducted house-to-house searches in Nasiriyah. Sectarian fighting killed 111 people. One American soldier was killed by small arms fire in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AP, 6/19/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, Gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 15.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Japan changed the name of the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, site of the famous World War II battle, to its original name of Iwo To after residents there were prodded into action by two recent Clint Eastwood movies.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, Fierce fighting erupted at a besieged Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese troops resumed bombardment of al-Qaida-inspired militants barricaded inside. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Nigeria's main labor organizations said they had called a general strike for June 20, two days later than originally planned, threatening key oil exports.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Pakistan demanded that Britain withdraw a knighthood awarded to author Salman Rushdie, as a government minister said the honor gave a justification for suicide attacks by Muslims.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Mogadishu, Somalia, a roadside bomb hidden in a pile of garbage exploded, killing two children and wounding 3 other people just minutes after security officials drove by.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Bush and visiting Israeli PM Ehud Olmert sided emphatically with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his standoff with the militant group Hamas.
(AP, 6/19/08)
2007 Jun 19, The US announced the transfer of six Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to their home countries, including one who, according to his lawyers, now may face abuse in Tunisia for nonviolent political activities. 4 men returned to Yemen and two to Tunisia.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Thomas Ravenel, treasurer of South Carolina, was indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges.
(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, After some six years as a Republican, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (65) announced that he has left the Republican Party and become unaffiliated in what many believe could be a step toward entering the 2008 race for president.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, International Lease Finance Corp., the world's largest airline leasing company, ordered 63 Boeing jets with a total list price of $8.8 billion.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Sterlite Industries, the flagship company of India’s Vedanta Resources, went public on the NYSE for over $2 billion.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.72)(www.stockhouse.com/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19859)
2007 Jun 19, In Austin, Texas, 3-4 people beat a man to death after the car he was riding in apparently struck and injured a child.
(AP, 6/20/07)(SFC, 6/22/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 19, James Cockayne (21) of New Hope, Pa., was beaten and stabbed to death in the Virgin Islands. 3 men, Anselmo Boston, Kamal Thomas and Jahleel Ward, were arrested after the parents of Cockayne appeared on US news programs and accused Virgin Islands detectives of botching an investigation into their son's death. On Oct 10, 2008, Ward was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges. Anselmo Boston and Kamal Thomas were found guilty on two counts each of third-degree assault, among other charges.
(AP, 10/6/08)(AP, 10/10/08)
2007 Jun 19, Fierce clashes between Taliban militants and NATO and Afghan forces left more than 100 people dead over the last three days in Uruzgan province. Police clashed with insurgents and retook control of Miya Nishin district in Kandahar. Hours later provincial police chief forces lost Ghorak district in the same province to the militants. A mosque attack occurred in Ismail Kheil in Khost province. Two unidentified men entered the building and fatally shot three people while wounding four others.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, The Algerian government approved a plan to set up an academy of the Amazigh language, spoken by the Berber minority, many of whom live in Kabylie in the mountainous north of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, "The Lord of the Rings" musical, the most expensive production in West End history, opened at London's Theatre Royal to mixed reviews, with some critics praising it as brilliant and others calling it corny and "a thumping great flop."
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, China’s state media reported that the worst drought in 30 years in northeast China's Liaoning province has left more than 1.2 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Dubai a Canadian UN official, who advised the Afghan government on eradicating opium poppy crops, was sentenced to four years in prison for smuggling and drug possession. Bert Tatham (35) of Vancouver, British Columbia, was arrested April 23 during a one-hour stopover at the Dubai International Airport, after being caught with a half a gram of hashish, and two poppy bulbs.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, The European Parliament decided that if it isn't distilled from grains or potatoes, it really isn't vodka. It also overwhelmingly approved a ban on trade in products containing cat or dog fur.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Georgia border agents blocked a car trying to smuggle radioactive plutonium and beryllium from Azerbaijan.
(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, Ghanaians reacted with a blend of excitement and foreboding to the news of a major oil find off the coast of their west African nation, some viewing it as a boon and others fearing it could turn out to be a curse.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Indian police said they have discovered a stash of hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones and arrested a gang for allegedly smuggling them to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for use in Buddhist monasteries.
(Reuters, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A truck bomb struck the Shiite Khillani mosque in central Baghdad, killing at least 87 people and wounding more than 200. About 10,000 US soldiers used heavily armored Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles to battle their way into an al-Qaida sanctuary in Baqouba. The troops, under cover of attack helicopters, killed at least 22 insurgents in the offensive. A Task Force Lightning soldier was killed by an explosion near his vehicle. In all 142 people were killed or found dead in sectarian violence.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak took over as defense minister. Hundreds of terrified Gazans fleeing Hamas rule were trapped at a main crossing with Israel, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank. Israeli security officials said they have arrested 12 members of a PLO cell that planned to kidnap American citizens.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, A Lebanese soldier was killed in clashes with al-Qaida-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Antonio Aguilar (88), Mexican mariachi singer and actor, died. He recorded more than 150 albums and began his acting career during Mexico's "Golden Era" of cinema. He appeared in 167 films, including "The Undefeated" starring John Wayne.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Nigeria a top militant leader freed on bail said that armed groups in the restive south will halt attacks on oil installations to give the new government a chance to deal with the region's problems.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, Students at a Northern Ireland high school were receiving counseling after three 15-year-old classmates hanged themselves over the past month.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A US envoy said North Korea has finally received millions of dollars at the heart of a dispute that stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations, and must quickly shut down its only reactor.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Pakistan an explosion killed at least 26 Taliban allies in the North Waziristan tribal region. Security officials said it appeared to be a missile attack from Afghanistan targeting a training camp for foreign militants. A Pakistani military spokesman said the explosion was from a bomb being made by the militants.
(SFC, 6/20/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, In Romania hundreds of retirees took to the streets in Bucharest and about 20 other towns to demand that pensions be raised to at least 45% of the average national salary and other benefits. Romania numbered 6 million retirees out of a population of 22 million.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, A new survey reported that Moscow is the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A Russian court sentenced four men to prison terms of between seven and 14 years for the racially motivated killing of a Congolese student. The slaying of Roland Epassak in St. Petersburg two years ago prompted outrage and protests among Russian and foreign exchange students and other young people.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Sri Lanka government troops killed up to 44 Tamil rebels in clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka while destroying three small camps in the insurgents' last eastern stronghold.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Jakaya Kikwete said Tanzania will shut camps housing 150,000 refugees from Burundi by the end of this year as the war in the neighbouring central African country is over.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Police charged ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife with concealing assets and ordered the exiled leader to return to Thailand.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, It was reported that political troubles in the Ukraine were being aggravated by soaring bread prices as the worst drought in a century hit the region.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, The Vatican issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 20, For the second time, President Bush vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill as he urged scientists toward what he termed "ethically responsible" research.
(AP, 6/20/08)
2007 Jun 20, Sammy Sosa, playing for the Texas Rangers after a year out of baseball, hit his 600th home run, making him the fifth player to reach the milestone.
(AP, 6/20/08)
2007 Jun 20, Isaac Kamali, who appears on Rwanda's most wanted list submitted to Interpol, was detained at Philadelphia airport.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 20, In eastern Afghanistan gunmen opened fire on people praying in a mosque, killing three and wounding four others. A series of roadside bombings in Afghanistan killed eight people, including three Canadian NATO soldiers. One bomb blew up a police vehicle in the eastern province of Khost, killing Qalandar district police chief Ali Mohammad and one of his men. An ambush on a convoy belonging to UN's Office for Project Services on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway, killed two Afghan guards. Another bomb exploded on a road in Ghazni province and killed a man who was cycling home after buying groceries. Fighting in Paktika province between US-led troops and suspected Taliban left 8 militants and a policeman dead.
(AP, 6/20/07)(AFP, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Australia announced that it will spend 9.3 billion US dollars on five Spanish-designed warships to boost its capacity to face military threats in the region.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Chechnya a gunbattle broke out between traffic police and a Defense Ministry unit in Grozny, leaving at least five people dead and six wounded.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, China announced a nationwide crackdown on enslavement and child labor. China's regulatory standards chief pledged to update and boost enforcement of food safety rules as the country faces intense international pressure for exporting unsafe products from toothpaste to pet food ingredients. State media said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain have killed 36 more people and left 13 missing in southwest and central China. A knife-wielding man slashed four students, wounding one seriously at a high school in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Reuters, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Otto Roberto Herrera Garcia, a man accused of turning Guatemala into a corridor for US-bound cocaine, was arrested in Bogota, two years after escaping from a Mexican prison. He offered agents $700,000 each in bribes to let him go when he was seized.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 20, A Dutch government-funded agency said China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, because of surging energy use amid an economic boom. However consumption and emission levels per head remained a mere fraction of America’s.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.45)
2007 Jun 20, Starbucks signed a deal to credit Ethiopia's unique bean varieties on its coffee labels, ending a long-brewing trademark dispute.
(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Athens, Greece, 7 police officers were charged with torture and other offenses in the alleged beating of two Albanian immigrants that was recorded on a cell phone camera and posted on the Internet.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Gunmen blew up two Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, causing heavy damage but no casualties, in an apparent retaliatory attack a day after a suicide truck bombing devastated a revered Shiite mosque in the heart of the capital. The US military said at least 30 al-Qaida fighters were killed and several bombs and weapons caches destroyed as soldiers fought their way through the streets of Baqouba. 4 US soldiers were killed and one was wounded when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western neighborhood in Baghdad. Southwest of Baghdad. Two US soldiers were killed and 4 were wounded when explosions struck near their vehicle. Two Marines also were killed while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nazek al-Malaika (85), a renowned Iraqi poet, died. She was famous as the first to write Arabic poetry in free verse rather than classical rhyme.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Israeli tanks entered southern Gaza, and four people, including at least two militants, were killed in an exchange of fire. Israel fired missiles at two rocket launchers in northern Gaza in the first attack since Hamas militants took control. Israel also let in a few seriously ill Palestinians who had been holed up for days at a fetid border crossing. In the West Bank, two Palestinian militants were killed in a shootout with Israeli troops during an arrest raid near Jenin.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Japanese lawmakers approved a two-year extension of the country's air force transport mission in Iraq, despite criticism of Tokyo's involvement in the unpopular war.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nigerian stocks dipped 1.74% as a general strike called by the country's two main labor movements over a 15-percent hike in petrol prices took its toll. Nigerian health officials said an outbreak of measles in a village in the northern state of Borno had killed 20 children and caused a further 100 children to be hospitalized.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Sierra Leone 3 former military leaders were found guilty of war crimes by a UN-backed court, the first verdicts from the country's civil war and the first convictions in an international court for using child soldiers. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were indicted in 2003 as the alleged leaders of a junta, called the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, which toppled the government in 1997 and then teamed up with rebels to control the country until 1998.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Switzerland 2 people accused of running al-Qaida-linked Web sites that showed the slaying of hostages and gave details of how to make bombs and carry out attacks went on trial. Moez Garsallaoui (39), a Tunisian based in Switzerland, and Malika El Aroud 948), the Belgian-born widow of an al-Qaida suicide bomber, appeared in court on charges that included providing support for terrorists.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Thailand’s legislature approved an anti-rape law that widens the definition of the crime and makes it illegal for a husband to have sex with his wife without her consent.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Adm. William Fallon, a top US military commander, met with Turkmenistan's new President Berdymukhamedov for talks on regional security, counterterrorism operations and drug trafficking.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Britain and the United States signed a treaty to cut red tape on arms deals and improve the compatibility of military equipment.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief US nuclear envoy, made a rare trip to North Korea in a surprise bid to accelerate international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 6/21/08)
2007 Jun 21, Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet heard a barrage of criticism during his historic visit to Washington, with angry US lawmakers saying ties between the former enemies will stagnate until Vietnam's dismal human rights record improves.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In SF Mayor Newsome described a plan to reduce the number of trash cans in SF as part of a larger pledge to reduce litter by 50% over the next 5 years. Some 305 of 5,000 cans have been removed since January due to alleged inappropriate use by neighbors.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.B12)
2007 Jun 21, In Kentucky a cable broke on the superman Tower of Power ride at the Six Flags Kentucky Freedom park in Louisville and sliced off the feet of a 13-year-old girl.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.B2)
2007 Jun 21, Bob Evans (89), sausage maven, died in Ohio. In 2007 his Bob Evans Farms restaurant chain, begun in 1953, numbered 579 outlets in 18 states.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/21/08)
2007 Jun 21, In eastern Afghanistan a land mine explosion killed a NATO soldier and wounded four more. An official said the UN World Food Program has halted aid deliveries in Afghanistan's most volatile provinces after 85 of its trucks were attacked, set ablaze or looted in the last year by Taliban insurgents and thieves.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Australia's PM John Howard announced plans for the federal government to take control of 60 aboriginal communities in the Northern Territories. Plans also included a ban on pornography and alcohol for Aborigines in the northern areas and tightened control over their welfare benefits to fight child sex abuse among them.
(AP, 6/21/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.50)
2007 Jun 21, In London, England, Damien Hirst’s “Lullaby spring" sold for $19.1 million, the highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist. The work consisted of a stainless steel cabinet containing 6,136 hand-crafted and painted pills. It was purchased by Sheikha al-Mayassa al-Thani, the daughter of the emir of Qatar.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.E4)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.99)
2007 Jun 21, A hitman sent to Britain to kill Boris Berezovsky (61) was arrested by British security services as he planned the murder. He was turned over to immigration services and soon deported.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2096367.ece)
2007 Jun 21, At Stonehenge, England, Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers welcomed the sun as it rose above the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, China signed an agreement to cancel Iraqi debt at a ceremony after a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani. State media reported no more brightly dyed hair, flashy jewelry or smoking in public for China's police while they're in uniform.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, China's special envoy on Darfur said his country will seriously consider sending troops for a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Sudanese region and insisted Beijing is doing its best to help solve the conflict.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Leaders of the EU's 27 nations gathered to discuss a new EU treaty.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, The European Court of Human Rights found the Russian authorities responsible for the killings of four members of a Chechen family in 2003 and ordered Moscow to pay a relative $114,000.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Talks in Germany between the US, EU, India and Brazil to save the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round of free trade negotiations collapsed.
(Reuters, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, A suicide truck bomber struck the Sulaiman Bek city hall in a predominantly Sunni area in northern Iraq, killing at least 17 people, including the mayor, and wounded 66 in a predominantly Sunni area of northern Iraq. 5 US troops were killed in a single roadside bombing that also killed four Iraqis in Baghdad. A rocket-propelled grenade struck a vehicle in northern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding three others. US soldiers detained 18 suspected militants in raids targeting roadside bomb networks in the Baghdad area.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 21, Mario Villanueva, the former Mexican governor of Quintana Roo, was freed after six years behind bars and immediately re-arrested on a US extradition request in which he is accused of helping smuggle 200 tons of cocaine into the United States.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Nigeria police used tear gas on strikers manning a barricade in Lagos as the second day of a general strike brought parts of Africa's largest oil producer to a standstill. Two Nigerian employees of Italian oil company Agip were killed when troops stormed an oil facility to free hostages in the Niger delta. A total of 20 people were killed in the operation, including 15 militants.
(AFP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Pakistan thousands rallied in support of the suspended chief justice, accusing President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of attacking the judiciary and burning a US flag to protest Washington's backing for the general's continued rule. Pakistani traders announced a reward of 10 million rupees (165,000 dollars) for anyone who beheads Salman Rushdie following Britain's decision to award the novelist a knighthood. Islamic scholars bestowed a top honor on Osama bin Laden in response to the British accolade.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Peru's Congress voted overwhelmingly to lower the age to 14 for participating in consensual sex, a move some activists said could expose children to sexual abuse.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 21, Portugal introduced a new law that allows abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy, but imposes a three-day reflection period for women seeking the procedure and grants doctors the right to opt out on moral grounds.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Russia a fire swept through a nursing home in Western Siberia's Omsk region and killed at least 10 people.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Thai prosecutors filed corruption charges against ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra in the Supreme Court, in the first formal charges lodged against the exiled former premier. Separatist militants in southern Thailand shot a Muslim man and then partially severed his head, while the nation's junta leader was visiting the region. A 54-year-old Buddhist was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, The US House of Representatives voted to prohibit any aid to Saudi Arabia as lawmakers accused the close ally of religious intolerance and bankrolling terrorist organizations.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Wyoming Republican legislator John Barrasso was named as the country’s newest US senator to replace the late Craig Thomas.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 22, Blackstone Group share rose 13.1% in their stock market premier. This was the 6th richest IPO in US history. Schwarzman and Peter Peterson sold shares worth a combined $2.6 billion. In 2010 David Carey and John Morris authored “King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Stephen Schwarzman and Blackstone."
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.C1)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.102)
2007 Jun 22, The space shuttle Atlantis landed in California to avoid rain in Florida, ending a two-week, five-million-mile mission for its crew of seven. While docked at the International Space Station, the astronauts successfully installed a new truss segment, expanding the station's laboratory with a new set of power-generating solar arrays. Atlantis ended a two-week mission bringing home crew member Sunita "Suni" Williams, who'd set an endurance record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 195 days.
(AP, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/22/08)
2007 Jun 22, Guy Vander Jagt (75), a 13-term Republican congressman from Michigan, died in Washington.
(AP, 6/22/08)
2007 Jun 22, In southern Afghanistan Taliban militants attacked police posts, triggering NATO airstrikes overnight which killed 20 suspected militants, but also 25 civilians, including 9 women, 3 babies and the mullah at the local mosque 9 miles northeast of Gereshk town. NATO and US-led coalition forces killed 60 insurgents near the border with Pakistan, in what was described as the largest insurgent formation crossing the region in six months. Pakistan's army said a rocket fired during the battle hit a house on its territory, killing nine civilians. In Helmand province an attack on US-led coalition troops left one soldier dead and two others wounded.
(AP, 6/22/07)(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Algerian soldiers shot and killed six armed Islamists near Algiers, while two guards died in homemade bomb blasts at a gas pipeline southeast of the capital.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 22, British energy group BP, facing pressure from the Kremlin, said that it had agreed to sell its stakes in a Siberian gas field and company to Russian gas giant Gazprom for up to 900 million dollars (669 million euros).
(AP, 6/22/07)(WSJ, 6/22/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 22, Chinese investigators said government labor monitors and police officers were actively involved in the Chinese brickyard slavery scandal. A provincial governor apologized as the government stepped up efforts to try to show it was responding to a growing slave labor scandal.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Colombia a wave of bombings in Bogota wounded 23 people. Marines defused another two bombs the next day. Authorities blamed the bombings on rebels seeking revenge for the killing of a regional guerrilla commander.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Southeastern Europe baked under soaring temperatures, with nearly 30 deaths across the region blamed on the year's first major heat wave.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Greece immigrant groups opened the first formal Islamic prayer site to operate in Athens since rule by the Ottoman Empire ended more than 170 years ago.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In India 12 members of a wedding party were among 31 feared drowned overnight in two separate boat accidents in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Heavy rains and flooding killed at least 45 people in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and left nearly 100 children stranded on the roof of their school.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Iran interior minister was quoted saying Iran has produced more than 220 pounds of enriched uranium.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, A suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest struck a police patrol in Fallujah, killing two officers. US helicopters killed 17 al-Qaida fighters as they tried to get by a checkpoint in Baqouba.
(AP, 6/22/07)(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 22, In Kenya at least 20 people were killed overnight in and around Nairobi, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gunbattles.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Rebels attacked an army base in Niger, killing 13 and wounding 30 soldiers, and taking at least 47 prisoners.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Nigeria's crippling general strike entered a third day with labor leaders and government officials deadlocked after all-night talks ended in failure.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Pakistani police arrested Muhammad Shahid Jamil Qureshi, a former government minister, after a court cancelled his bail in connection with the death of a Canadian woman.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the government was dropping charges against veteran coup-plotter Gregorio Honasan after he was elected to the Senate last month.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, South African unions turned down a revised offer of a 7.5% pay rise, ensuring that the country's biggest strike since the end of apartheid will go into a fourth week.
(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In southern Thailand 10 people, including five soldiers, were hurt in two separate bombings.
(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Zimbabwe's currency plunged to new depths as the US ambassador to Harare predicted galloping inflation will force Pres. Mugabe from office before the end of the year.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Canton, Ohio, authorities found the body of Jessie Davis (26), who had disappeared a week earlier. Davis was pregnant and due to deliver on July 3. Police arrested Bobby Cutts Jr. (30), Davis’ boyfriend and the father of Davis’ two-year-old son. Myisha Ferrel, a former classmate Bobby Cutts, was arrested the next day in connection with the murder. In 2008 Cutts was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to 57 years to life in prison.
(SSFC, 6/24/07, p.A6)(SFC, 6/25/07, p.A5)(SFC, 2/16/08, p.A4)(AP, 6/23/08)
2007 Jun 23, Donna Jou (19), a student a San Diego State Univ., was last scene on the back of a motorcycle driven by John Steven Burgess (35), a convicted sex offender. In August Burgess pleaded guilty to a drug charge in Florida and waived extradition to California.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.B9)
2007 Jun 23, A Belgian teenager was arrested for hacking and temporarily shutting down the federal police website, leaving a mocking on-line note which helped identify him.
(AFP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 23, Britain’s PM Tony Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI, with the Vatican stop on his farewell tour fueling rumors that he plans to convert to Catholicism.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Authorities said an outbreak of distemper has been killing seal pups off the coast of Denmark, warning that thousands of seals could die if the disease spreads to other northern European countries.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, European Union leaders agreed on a "precise mandate," no longer called a constitution, that will guide and govern the expanded EU. They agreed on the key points of a treaty meant to strengthen the bloc's foreign policy role and eliminate unwieldy bureaucracy.
(AP, 6/23/07)(WSJ, 6/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 23, In India the mutilated bodies of Manoj and Babli Banwala were fished out of Barwala Link Canal in Hisar district by Kheri Chowki police, their hands and feet tied. Manoj and Babli Banwala (19), childhood sweethearts in northern Haryana state, were murdered some days earlier by male relatives of Babli, who was forced to drink pesticide by her brother. Manoj was garroted by the bride’s uncle. Their alleged crime was to have married within the same Hindu clan.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaithal_honour_killing_case)
2007 Jun 23, It was estimated that 2.2 million of Iraq’s 27 million people have fled the country for Jordan, Syria and elsewhere. Iraqi and US troops captured two senior al-Qaida militants in Diyala province. US military said that at least 55 al-Qaida operatives have been killed and 23 detained since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. A predawn operation by US forces working with Iraqi informants in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City netted 3 other militants suspected of ties to Iran. A car bomb in the southern city of Hillah killed at least two people and wounded 18 others. A total of 11 US soldiers were killed, including seven killed by roadside bombs, four by a single blast near Baghdad. An Iraqi man was killed by US troops near Kirkuk. On July 19 two American soldiers were charged with his murder.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.54)(AP, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/24/07)(SFC, 7/20/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun 23, Israeli troops arrested the founder of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank. Saleh Aruri, was taken from his West Bank home before dawn. Aruri had served 15 years in an Israeli prison and was released in March.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Italian energy company Eni SpA and Russia's state-controlled OAO Gazprom said they signed a memorandum of understanding on the possibility of supplying Russian gas to European Union countries through a pipeline under the Black Sea.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Nigeria labor unions called off a strike aimed at overturning a government fuel-price hike, ending a four-day work stoppage that shut down most major economic activity in Africa's biggest oil producer. Labor officials said they accepted a government proposal to hold off on raising fuel prices for a year, while accepting an earlier offer to halve the price increase that had sparked the strike. Kidnappers released four foreign oil workers seized weeks ago.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Pakistan radical Islamic students kidnapped nine people, including 6 Chinese women, from an alleged brothel in Islamabad. The nine were released after about 17 hours. Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables killed at least 228 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.
(Reuters, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Romania a bear attacked a group of US tourists on a remote trail in the Carpathian Mountains, killing a woman and injuring two other people.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Saudi Arabia a judge postponed the trial of 3 members of the religious police for their alleged involvement in the death of a man arrested after being seen with a woman who was not his relative.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Sudan’s oil production stood at 480,000 barrels per day with proven reserves at 1.6 billion barrels.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 23, In Turkey a separatist Kurdish rebel and a civilian were killed in a botched suicide attack in the eastern province of Tunceli. Paramilitary troops opened fire on the truck as it was approaching a military outpost at which point the vehicle exploded. Fighting elsewhere left five rebels and a government militia member dead.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, A Yemeni guard opened fire on a group of foreign oil workers shortly after they landed at a company airstrip, killing one and wounding five, including an American. The provincial governor said the guard's was mentally ill.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 24, Charles W. Lindberg (86), one of the U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, died in Edina, Minn.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2007 Jun 24, In Afghanistan a roadside bomb hit a convoy of British troops, wounding one soldier and prompting them to open fire in a civilian area in insurgency-plagued Helmand province, killing one man.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Argentines in Buenos Aires voted for a new mayor. Pre-election polls suggested most would swing right and elect Mauricio Macri (48), the president of Argentina's most popular soccer team.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Treasury chief Gordon Brown, three days before taking over from Tony Blair as premier, replaced Blair as leader of Britain's Labor Party and vowed that the country's foreign policy will recognize that defeating terrorism "involves more than military force."
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," and two others to death for their roles in the bloody offensive said to have killed some 180,000 people during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Two others sentenced to hang for anti-Kurdish atrocities were former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces. Two Sunni blocs in the Iraqi parliament, holding 55 seats, began a boycott of the 275-seat house, demanding reinstatement of the Sunni speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. Journalist Zeena Shakir Mahmoud (35) was shot to death on her way home from work in Mosul, the second female journalist to be killed there this month.
(AP, 6/24/07)(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 24, The Israeli Cabinet approved the release of frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a step to bolster the moderate leader in his standoff against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, In Indian Kashmir 3 suspected Muslim rebels were shot dead trying to cross from the Pakistan side of the divided state. The region's main guerrilla group vowed to continue attacks and shun peace talks. A landmine attack by rebels on an Indian police convoy wounded 10 on the outskirts of Srinagar.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Lebanese troops raided an apartment complex suspected of housing Islamic militants in the northern port city of Tripoli, sparking a gunbattle that left 10 people dead, including a soldier and 6 gunmen. A bombing killed 6 members of Spanish UN peacekeepers, including 3 Colombians, and seriously wounded two others.
(AP, 6/24/07)(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 24, A news report said South Korea has extracted gas hydrate, an alternative fuel source Seoul hopes might help reduce its heavy dependence on oil imports, in its eastern territorial waters.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 25, First Lady Laura Bush arrived in Senegal to start a four-nation Africa tour that is expected to focus on how the US can help fight AIDS on a continent where many countries struggle to even provide basic health care.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, Robert Zoellick won unanimous approval of the World Bank's board to become the institution's next president.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2007 Jun 25, Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner (46), a former US Army Reserve officer, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for helping steer millions of dollars in Iraq-reconstruction contracts in exchange for jewelry, computers, cigars and sexual favors.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, A Washington DC judge rejected a lawsuit by Roy Pearson, who sought $54 million for a pair of pants lost by the Custom Cleaners dry cleaning firm in 2005. Pearson’s claim had been reduced from $67 million.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 25, In Utah police recaptured Curtis Allgier (27) after he wrested a gun from a corrections officer Stephen Anderson, killed him and fled in a stolen SUV.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 25, In California a forest fire raged out of control for a 2nd day near Lake Tahoe. The 7-day Angora fire destroyed 254 homes burning 3,100 acres with damages estimated at over $150 million.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/08, p.A1)
2007 Jun 25, Chris Benoit (40), a professional wrestling superstar, was found dead alongside the bodies of his wife and retarded son (7) in Fayetteville, Georgia. Police treated the case as a possible murder-suicide. Anabolic steroids thought to be a contributing factor. The Canadian-born wrestler won the world heavyweight championship in 2004. Doctors later reported that Chris Benoit had injected steroids not long before he died.
(Reuters, 6/26/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A4)(Reuters, 7/17/07)
2007 Jun 25, Police and soldiers began deploying to outback Australia as part of a radical plan to end child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities which has been criticized as a return to the nation's paternalistic past.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, The final British troops withdrew from the Northern Ireland borderland long known as "bandit country," ending a 37-year mission to keep watch over the Irish Republican Army's most dangerous power base.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, A charter plane carrying 22 people between two popular Cambodian tourist destinations crashed in a mountainous region in the south of the country. All aboard were killed.
(AP, 6/25/07)(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Cairo a state security court sentenced Mohammed Sayed Saber (35), an Egyptian nuclear engineer, to life in prison after convicting him of spying for Israel. He had been charged with harming the country's national security by giving stolen documents to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in exchange for $17,000.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Frontex, the EU's external border agency, kicked off a new series of patrols in the Mediterranean coastal area, known as operation Nautilus, in order to halt the influx of illegal immigrants, crossing over from North Africa to Europe. Many migrants aimed to reach Malta as a stepping stone to Italy and Europe.
(www.eubusiness.com/Malta/1181678401.8/)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.59)
2007 Jun 25, In India police arrested Dr. K. Murugesan and his physician wife, the parents of Dhileepan Raj, who supervised their son while he allegedly performed the Caesarean section.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, A suicide bomber apparently targeting a meeting of US-allied Sunni sheiks penetrated layers of security and blew himself up in a hotel lobby, killing 13 people including 4 sheiks. The poet Rahim al-Maliki, who wrote about his dreams of Iraqi unity in a place where such appeals are drowned out by daily bombings, was among those killed as a wave of suicide and other bombings left at least 54 people dead across Iraq. A US soldier shot to death in south Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/07)(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A17)(AP, 6/25/08)
2007 Jun 25, Israel's PM Ehud Olmert promised to free 250 Palestinian prisoners and to improve life in the West Bank in an attempt to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas' takeover in Gaza. Olmert made the pledges at a summit in this Egyptian Red Sea resort with Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan. Hamas militants posted an audio message from an Israeli soldier captured a year ago at an army base near the Gaza Strip, the first sign of life from the young serviceman since he was seized. In a new video kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston appeared with what he says are explosives strapped to his body and warned that his captors intend to set them off if rescuers attempt to free him by force.
(AP, 6/25/07)(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaida's deputy leader, called on Muslims around the world to back Hamas with weapons, money and attacks on US and Israeli interests in a Web audiotape, urging the Palestinian militant group to unite with al-Qaida's "holy warriors" after its takeover of Gaza.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Mexico temporarily removed all 284 of its top federal police officers from their jobs and is forcing them to undergo psychological reviews to prove they will not be corrupted in the fight against drug trafficking.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In the Netherlands former Liberian president Charles Taylor boycotted the resumption of his war crimes trial.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Nigeria 2 youth activists were killed in a clash between two rival groups in southern Nigerian Rivers State.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In the Philippines Vicente Sumalpong, a reporter at a government-run radio station, was fatally shot on southern Tawi Tawi island, the latest victim in a string of killings of journalists.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Puerto Rico's Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila acknowledged that he is the target of a US grand jury investigation into campaign finances, a revelation further jeopardizing his bid for re-election.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, A Swedish court ruled that convicted sex offenders are free to read pornography in their cells. It said the country's prison system had no right to deny an imprisoned rapist access to his porn magazines.
(www.thelocal.se/7699/20070625/)
2007 Jun 25, The Thai government said it will freeze an additional $147 million in assets believed to be controlled by ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A CD of the Russian National Orchestra performing Dead Symphony No. 6: An Orchestral Tribute to the Grateful Dead, was released in the US. The work was directed by composer Lee Johnson.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.E3)
2007 Jun 26, Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball," got into a verbal fracas with Elizabeth Edwards, who had called into the program to ask Coulter to stop making personal attacks on her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
(AP, 6/26/08)
2007 Jun 26, It was reported that ConocoPhillips planned to walk away from its Venezuelan investments, rather than agree to a government takeover of assets, and preserve its right to seek international arbitration. Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips refused to sign deals to keep pumping heavy oil under tougher terms in Venezuela's Orinoco River basin, signaling their departure from one of the world's largest oil deposits. 7 of the 11 companies agreed to new terms with Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA).
(WSJ, 6/26/07, p.A7)(AP, 6/26/07)(WSJ, 6/27/07, p.A1)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.46)
2007 Jun 26, Patrick Knight was executed in Huntsville, Texas, for the 1991 murder of a couple from the Amarillo area.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 26, The body of Alyssa Heberton-Morimoto, a summer intern for the Colorado Geologic Survey, was found in an isolated part of the San Isabel National Forest, 75 miles southwest of Denver. A suspect, who has used the names Dennis Cook, Dennis Lee Cook and Robert R. Amos, was arrested the next day and held for investigation of first-degree murder.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 26, Liz Claiborne (b.1929), fashion designer died in NYC. She revolutionized the way working women put together their wardrobes. Claiborne launched her label in 1976 after working for years as a relatively unknown dress designer. She retired in 1989 and left behind a company that by 2007 reached $5 billion in annual sales with 22,000 sites around the world.
(AP, 6/28/07)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A4)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.83)
2007 Jun 26, The Asian Development Bank in Thailand said Asian governments must promote clean energy such as wind and solar power to maintain their booming economies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Residents across England mopped up after flash floods killed 4 people and forced hundreds from their homes.
(AP, 6/26/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.66)
2007 Jun 26, China launched a $1 billion fund to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa as part of efforts to nurture commercial ties. The Chinese government said inspectors have seized shipments of US-made orange pulp and dried apricots containing high levels of bacteria and preservatives. A 22-mile long bridge that its builders claim is the world's longest sea-crossing structure was formally linked-up just south of the business hub of Shanghai.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Colombia’s navy captured Edwin Alexander Torres, an alleged rebel suspected of masterminding a wave of recent bombings that killed 3 people and wounded dozens in Bogota.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 26, German authorities said a tax official, who stole more than $230,000 from the state by inventing taxpayers and claiming money owed to them, has been handed a jail sentence of three years and three months.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Sizzling temperatures in Greece, Italy and Romania brought power cuts and brush fires in a heat wave that has led to at least 38 deaths in southeast Europe in recent days.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Iran's state broadcasting company said it is launching an English-speaking satellite television channel to counter the West's influence in covering news.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Sunni tribal sheik was killed in a drive-by shooting in southwestern Baghdad. Culture Minister Asad Kamal al-Hashimi was identified by two suspected militants as the mastermind of a Feb. 8, 2005, ambush against then-parliamentary candidate Mithal al-Alusi. Al-Alusi escaped unharmed but two of his sons were killed. Newly arrived US troops southeast of Baghdad destroyed boats on the Tigris River and targeted networks believed to be bringing powerful roadside bombs from Iran as the military cracks down on extremists from all directions.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, In Jerusalem international Mideast negotiators searched for ways to revive peace talks after Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. US officials said they were expected to name outgoing British PM Tony Blair as a senior envoy.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Japanese robot maker unveiled what it called the world's first prototype of an artificial hand with "air muscles" that can do even delicate work like picking up a raw egg.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Tokitaizan, whose real name is Takashi Saito (17), collapsed during a training session in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, and was confirmed dead a few hours later. On Oct 5 the Japan Sumo Association expelled stablemaster Junichi Yamamoto. On Feb 7, 2008, 3 wrestlers and a former trainer were arrested for Saito’s death.
(Econ, 10/13/07, p.46)(www.japantoday.com/jp/news/419435)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.49)
2007 Jun 26, In Jordan a 70-year-old woman who killed her daughter with an ax for giving birth to an illegitimate child and a man who shot a relative dead were each sentenced to prison in separate "honor crime" prosecutions.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Kenyan police killed two suspected members of a banned sect blamed for a string of recent murders and beheadings in a mounting crackdown.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Mozambican army vehicle carrying recruits overturned, killing 12 people and injuring 24.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 26, A seven billion dollar (5.2 billion euro) lawsuit pitting the Nigerian government against the world's biggest pharmaceutical company Pfizer opened with the US giant demanding the court dismiss the charges.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, UN nuclear monitors arrived in North Korea to discuss the communist nation's plans to fulfill its long-delayed pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Tropical cyclone Yemyin lashed Pakistan's coastline with heavy rains and strong winds, killing over 400 people. 250,000 people were left homeless. Flooding killed more than 50 people in neighboring Afghanistan.
(AFP, 6/26/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 26, In Somalia a roadside bomb explosion in Mogadishu killed five women and a man and wounded nine other people.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Taiwan's High Court rejected an appeal by President Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law against his insider trading conviction and increased his sentence to seven years' imprisonment.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Zimbabwe's government announced sweeping price cuts in a bid to curb inflation and said it set up a unit drawn from all its security agencies to enforce the cuts. Retailers shunned a new government order to slash the prices of basic goods such as bread and sugar, arguing that such a move would drive them out of business.
(AFP, 6/26/07)(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 27, Under the banner, "If another world is possible, another US is necessary," 10,000 civil society activists gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, for the beginning of the first US Social Forum (USSF).
(IPS, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 27, Don Harvey and his wife, Joyce, of Oklahoma won a $105.8 million Powerball lottery. They chose to receive a $33.3 million lump sum after taxes instead of the full amount paid out over 29 years.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 27, In her first televised interview since being released from custody, a demure Paris Hilton told CNN's Larry King she would never again drink and drive and that her time in jail was "a time-out in life."
(AP, 6/27/08)
2007 Jun 27, The annual Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report said 9.5 million people in 2006 held at least $1 million in financial assets, excluding the value of their primary home, for a combined value of $37.2 trillion.
(SFC, 6/28/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 27, It was reported that the United Auto Group (UAG) will soon change its name to Penske Automotive Group. The company planned to become the sole US distributor of DaimlerChrysler AG’s Smart car in 2008.
(WSJ, 6/27/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 27, It was reported that Salvia divinorum, a leafy hallucinogenic green plant from Mexico, was readily available in the SF Bay Area for $15-50 a hit. The effect was said to be short-lived and not in wide-spread use.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 27, Nevada Solar One, the first large CSP (concentrating solar power) plant built since the 1980s, went online with a capacity to generate 64 megawatts.
(Econ, 9/15/07, p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One)
2007 Jun 27, Torrential storms flooded parts of central Texas, stranding people on roofs, in trees and in vehicles. Constant downpours claimed 11 lives in the last 11 days.
(AP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, William M. Jenkins (b.1919), former CEO of Seattle-First National Bank, died on Bainbridge Island, Wash. His term ended after the bank was forced into a merger due to bad loans following the 1982 failure of Oklahoma’s Penn Square Bank.
(WSJ, 1/14/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 27, In Brazil police backed by helicopters raided Rio’s notorious Alemao shantytown and killed 19 suspected drug traffickers in pitched gunbattles.
(AP, 6/28/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.34)
2007 Jun 27, Gordon Brown became British prime minister, promising a new government with new priorities, after Tony Blair resigned to end a decade in power. Major Western powers agreed on the mandate for a new Middle East envoy and named Tony Blair to the position after he stepped down as prime minister. A statement from the Quartet (US, UN, EU, Russia) said Blair will focus on mobilizing international support and assistance for the Palestinians.
(AP, 6/27/07)(Reuters, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Canada’s government said it will ban all smoking in federal prisons next year to improve the health of prisoners, staff and visitors.
(Reuters, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Chinese inspectors, following a six-month crackdown, said industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients have been found in thousands of foods. The government said it closed 180 food manufacturers found to have used industrial chemicals and additives in food products. A state news agency quoted China's chief auditor saying auditors have found that officials stole or misused $1.9 billion in pension funds and other government money. Cases in the latest investigations stretched back to before 2000.
(AFP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/27/07)(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 27, Egyptian archaeologists said the mummy of an obese woman, who likely suffered from diabetes and liver cancer, has been identified as that of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt in the 15th century B.C., was known for dressing like a man and wearing a false beard. But when her rule ended, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Discovered in 1903 in the Valley of the Kings, the mummy was left on site until two months ago, when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for testing.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, An Egyptian state-run news agency said Ashraf Marwan (62), the controversial son-in-law of Egypt's late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, has died in London. Marwan was suspected of being a double agent for Israel during the 1973 war.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Power blackouts hit 13 locations in Athens and 95 fires were reported across Greece amid a heat wave that has killed dozens of people in southeast Europe over the past week.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Iran 2 gas stations were torched early in Tehran as angry Iranians protested fuel rationing measures suddenly enforced by the government, while many other Iranians lined up to fill their tanks.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Iraq a parked car exploded near a Shiite shrine in the Kazimiya district of Baghdad killing at least 14 people. Roadside bombs killed five policemen in Samarra and another five civilians in Baghdad. In Sadr City two people were killed in separate cars enveloped in a barrage of gunfire. Unknown gunmen opened fire on a civilian car in southwestern Baghdad, killing a man and wounding his son who was riding with him. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus in western Baghdad, injuring five civilians including the driver. In all at least 80 Iraqis were killed or found dead across the country. 3 British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in southern Iraq. One American soldier was killed and 4 wounded in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A19)
2007 Jun 27, Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip killed 13 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, and wounded over 40 others.
(AP, 6/27/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A12)
2007 Jun 27, In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said his plan for a United States of Africa should include creating a two million strong army to staunch recurrent conflicts which have ravaged many of the continent's nations. He was on his way to an African Union summit beginning on July 1 in neighboring Ghana's capital Accra.
(Reuters, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, A Kazakhstan court convicted 21 medical workers for their roles in infecting scores of children with the virus that causes AIDS in a case that has outraged the country. Health officials said 118 children and 14 mothers have been confirmed as contracting HIV. The Shymkent district court gave suspended sentences to five senior health officials. 16 medical workers were sentenced to prison sentences of up to five years.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Maputo US first lady Laura Bush announced $507 million in assistance would be approved for Mozambique to build roads and boost its battle with malaria, which kills about 150 Mozambicans each day.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, A special commission of Poland's Roman Catholic Church said that documents in secret police files showed "about a dozen" living bishops had ties to the communist-era secret services.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Moscow legislators approved a fifth term for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, whom critics accuse of running the city like a personal fiefdom.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, South Africa's main international airport faced major disruption after a deadly cold snap which saw the heaviest snowfalls in Johannesburg for more than two decades.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Majzub al-Khalifa, a close adviser to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir tasked with handling the Darfur crisis, was killed in a road crash.
(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, A Swiss investigator said European governments have built a "wall of silence" surrounding their complicity with a CIA program that included holding terrorist suspects in secret jails.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Officials said independent tests carried out in Italy have confirmed the presence for the first time of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry from Togo. Several thousand poultry birds have been found dead in Togo recently, most of them in the past week on the one farm in Sigbehoue.
(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey's military chief, asked his government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish guerrillas.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 28, President Bush's immigration plan to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants while fortifying the border collapsed in the Senate.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2007 Jun 28, The US FDA halted imports of 5 kinds of farm raised seafood from China after tests revealed trace amounts of carcinogens and antibiotics.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 28, The US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision condemned race-based school enrollment plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, but stopped short of banning it. The decision was denounced at a debate hours later by Democratic presidential candidates. The court also struck down an anti-trust rule nearly a century old, saying that it is no longer automatically unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on setting minimum retail prices.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.A1, D1)(AP, 6/28/08)
2007 Jun 28, In Alabama a district judge ordered Richard M. Scrushy, former head of HealthSouth to immediately begin serving an 82-month prison sentence for bribery. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was sentenced to over 7 years in prison.
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 28, Biologists reported the conversion of one species of bacterium into another by replacing all of its DNA.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.A9)
2007 Jun 28, The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would remove the bald eagle from the list of creatures protected under the Endangered Species Act.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.31)
2007 Jun 28, Bruce Kennedy (b.1938), former CEO of Alaska Airlines (1979-1991), was killed when his Cessna 182 crashed in Cashmere, Wash.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 28, A suicide car bomber hit a convoy of security contractors in Kabul, killing two US nationals and an Afghan woman and wounding three other Americans. The last of 18 mine clearing experts seized by the Taliban at the weekend were released unharmed, but the insurgent group has kept hold of key detection equipment as well as 3 specialist sniffer dogs. The Taliban beheaded a boy (15) in Zabul province after accusing him of spying for US forces. The headless body of Mir Zaman, who had been working as a translator for NATO-led troops in the eastern province of Paktia, was found in Logar province.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(Reuters, 6/28/07)(AFP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, An Angolan Airlines plane crashed into a house on landing, killing at least six people in M'banza Congo, a town about 180 miles north of the capital, Luanda.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Dramatic flooding replaced relentless drought in parts of eastern Australia, as PM John Howard expressed hopes that the country's worst drought in a century may be coming to an end.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Bolivian government began legal proceedings to seize the vast landholdings of a prominent opposition leader, saying the property was fraudulently obtained and should be given to a local Indian tribe. Soybean oil magnate Branko Marinkovic, an outspoken critic of President Evo Morales, said the 64,250 acres targeted by the government were obtained legally and are being used productively.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In central Bolivia 3 Bolivian soldiers and a Venezuelan sergeant died when an air force helicopter crashed.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Federal authorities in Brazil arrested 10 Brazilians accused of luring South American women to Spain and forcing them into prostitution.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Toronto the CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure, showed off its high-efficiency LED lighting, giving a brief preview of some of the millions of color combinations that will flow up and down the 553-meter (1,815-foot) tower during holidays and special events.
(Reuters, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, Egypt banned all female circumcision, the widely-practiced removal of the clitoris, which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he had accepted a 2002-border ruling with the country's arch-foe Eritrea, but insisted on new talks on how to implement it.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, The European Commission said all Indonesian airlines and several from Russia, Ukraine and Angola will be banned from flying to the EU due to safety concerns.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Hundreds of ethnic Georgians confronted Russian peacekeeping forces in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, throwing paint and gasoline on the troops and forcing them to stop blocking a road project.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, African Union foreign ministers met in Accra, Ghana, to prepare a summit of heads of state next week, the focus of which will be the creation of the United States of Africa.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Greece a fire broke out in the forest on Mount Parnitha, 12 miles northwest of Athens, and burned for 5 days destroying some 11,000 acres.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Parnitha)
2007 Jun 28, In Iraq a car bomb killed 22 people in one of the capital's busy outdoor bus stations. A report of 20 beheaded bodies, allegedly discovered on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, was later found to be false. 3 mortar rounds slammed into a popular shopping district in central Baghdad, killing 3 pedestrians. Mortars also fell early in eastern Baghdad's al-Amin neighborhood, killing 2 civilians and wounding 4 others. A car bomb exploded at a fuel station in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing one person and wounding 3 others. 2 suspected militants were killed when the bomb they were planting near a house of a US translator detonated prematurely. Insurgents launched a deadly coordinated attack on an American combat patrol, detonating a roadside bomb, then firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the soldiers.
(AP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/29/07)(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, Israeli President Moshe Katzav agreed to resign under an unexpected plea bargain that included no jail time for sex crimes, ending a year-long investigation. Israeli troops imposed a curfew on downtown Nablus and clashed with Fatah militants as the army's activities moved from Gaza to the West Bank.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, It was reported that Italy’s PM Romano Prodi estimated that unpaid taxes, including income from the black market, were equal to 27% of Italy’s GDP. The public debt stood at 106% of GDP.
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 28, Shigetake Ogata (73), the former head of Japan's intelligence agency, was arrested on fraud allegations involving a $29 million purchase of the headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents from a pro-North Korean group that he had monitored.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Kiichi Miyazawa (b.1919), former PM of Japan (1991-1993), died.
(AP, 6/28/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 28, Lebanese troops killed at least six Islamic militants during a gunbattle in northern Lebanon.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar'Adua revealed personal wealth of $5 million, saying public financial disclosures should be standard practice amidst official corruption. Torrential rain brought Lagos virtually to a standstill as streets flooded with more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of water, in places blocking traffic.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Salam Fayyad, the new Palestinian PM, delivered a stern warning to hundreds of Islamic preachers, including Hamas supporters: He won't tolerate calls for violence delivered from mosque pulpits and plans to collect militants' weapons.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, President Vladimir Putin welcomed Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for talks at the Russian presidential retreat outside Moscow, saying economic affairs and military-technical cooperation were on the agenda.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Somalia a roadside bomb killed two Somali soldiers in Mogadishu in the latest of a string of attacks highlighting worsening security.
(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In South Africa public sector unions representing one million members called off a nearly monthlong strike, bringing an end to a labor action that shut down schools and crippled hospitals across the country.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Sudan China's No. 1 oil company, CNPC, and Indonesia's PT Pertamina agreed to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block, ignoring international efforts to isolate Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that relaxes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries until the modernizing reforms of the 1960s.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Zambia US first lady Laura Bush promoted the role of faith-based organizations in combating disease in Africa as she launched an anti-malaria campaign.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Zimbabwe ordered a blanket freeze on the prices of all goods and services, urging members of the public to blow the whistle on retailers who ignore the latest edict.
(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 29, The US Supreme Court said it will claims of Guantanamo detainees that they have a right to challenge their detentions in American federal courts.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 29, Michael Moore’s film “Sicko," a critical look at the US health care system, opened.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 29, The Apple iPhone went on sale across the US.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 29, Harry B. Henshel (b.1919), former president of Bulova Watch Co. (1959-1976), died in Scarsdale, NY.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 29, George McCorkle (60), a founding member of the Marshall Tucker Band, died.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2007 Jun 29, Joel Siegel (63), American movie critic, died.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2007 Jun 29, Edward Yang (b.1947), who won best director in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival and was known for his realistic portrayals of modern Taiwan, died at his home in California of complications from colon cancer.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 29, Afghan and foreign troops killed four men in anti-Taliban raids in the eastern province of Nangarhar. A villager said the dead were innocent people: a father, two sons and a nephew from the same family. Police reported that four Taliban were killed and two policemen were injured in two clashes, one in Zabul and one in Paktia. In southern Afghanistan US-led coalition airstrikes left at least 30 people, including women and children, killed or wounded. In the southern Sangin district. An investigation the next day found that 62 insurgents had been killed. Afghan officials also said that 45 civilians were killed. NATO-led and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban fighters, leaving 15 militants dead. 3 children were killed and another wounded when an old rocket they were playing with exploded in Zabul province.
(AFP, 6/29/07)(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 29, In Minsk Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for a strategic partnership with Belarus, calling his counterpart a "brother-in-arms" and lamenting the pressure he said the US was putting on Minsk and Caracas.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Brazilian authorities began a 3-day raid an Amazon plantation where more than 1,000 laborers were found working 13-hour days, in horrendous conditions, cutting sugar cane for ethanol production.
(AP, 7/3/07)
2007 Jun 29, British police thwarted a devastating terrorist plot, discovering two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London's crowded theater and nightclub district. On Dec 16, 2008, Bilal Abdulla (29), an Iraqi doctor who claimed he intended only to frighten Britons, was convicted of conspiracy to murder with car bombs in London and Scotland.
(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 12/16/08)
2007 Jun 29, Britain's first postal strike in more than a decade was triggered by a row over pay and government plans to cut thousands of jobs. Union bosses claimed the 24-hour walkout would be carried out by up to 130,000 workers.
(AFP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Police closed a stretch of Canada's busiest highway and officials closed the country's main east-west rail line on fears that a native day of action could turn violent and disruptive.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, China enacted law meant to improve workers' rights, capping a round of unprecedented legislation by the communist government that included input from foreign companies and the Chinese public. A French-educated scientist was named China's health minister, becoming only the 2nd noncommunist appointed to the Cabinet since the 1970s. Beijing banned ten types of drugs for exaggerated effectiveness amid rising concerns of fake and tainted products in China's food and drug supply chains.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, In Egypt 33 students from Cairo's Ain Shams University were detained at a holiday camp in Alexandria and charged with holding a meeting "aimed at propagating the Muslim Brothers' ideology."
(AFP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Germany and Denmark agreed to build an 11-mile bridge spanning the waters between the two nations and cut travel times between Scandinavia and central Europe.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A German court convicted nurse Irene Becker (54) of murdering five patients at a top Berlin hospital with overdoses of medication, sentencing her to life in prison. Becker had argued she'd wanted to ease the suffering of some of the patients.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, At least six Iraqi soldiers were killed and five wounded when a suicide truck bomb exploded at their army post north of Baghdad. Two civilians were also killed in a barrage of gunfire that followed. A bomb exploded under an oil pipeline south of Baghdad, spilling crude oil and sparking a huge fire. US forces found around 40 bodies, bound and shot, in a fresh mass grave south of Fallujah. A US soldier was and three wounded when a sophisticated, armor-piercing bomb hit their combat patrol in southern Baghdad.
(AP, 6/29/07)(AFP, 6/30/07)(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Israeli President Moshe Katsav resigned as part of a much-criticized plea bargain that dropped planned rape charges and the threat of jail time.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A plane carrying Ivory Coast's PM Guillaume Soro came under heavy gunfire as it landed at an airport in a northern region dominated by rebels allied with the leader. 3 rockets killed four of his team and wounded 14 others.
(AP, 6/29/07)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 29, In Lebanon government soldiers shot at angry Palestinian demonstrators trying to march home to their besieged camp, and two people were reported killed and 29 wounded.
(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Laura Bush wrapped up a tour of Africa by visiting a school and sitting in on a math class in Mali, saying she was impressed by education efforts in the country.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A top official said the UN nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the country's main nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, In southwestern Pakistan hungry victims of monsoon-spawned floods rioted, protesting slow, meager aid reaching their marooned villages where many feared the receding waters would yield numerous bodies. Pakistani police fired tear gas to disperse a protest by some of the 1.1 million victims of a cyclone, as fresh storms hit India and flooded villages awaiting help in Afghanistan. The death toll rose to about 500.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Mercosur, South America’s biggest trade block (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), held a presidential summit in Asuncion, Paraguay.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.40)
2007 Jun 29, In Gaza City a Mickey Mouse look-alike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy his land.
(AP, 6/29/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A9)
2007 Jun 29, Spanish researchers said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.
(AFP, 6/29/07)
2008 Jun 30, Louisiana’s Gov. Jindal vetoed a 123% pay increase passed the state’s legislators. Their pay had not risen since 1980. he had initially refused to veto the bill.
(www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=32011)
2007 Jun 30, BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecommunications group, agreed to a C$51.7 billion ($48.5 billion) offer from a group including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, in what the purchasers said was the largest buyout in Canadian corporate history.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 30, East Timor parliamentary elections got under way. The ruling Fretilin party narrowly defeated its rivals in elections, prompting the President Jose Ramos-Horta to call for a national unity coalition to avoid a collapse of the government.
(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jun 30, American soldiers rolled into Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City slum in search of Iranian-linked militants and as many as 26 Iraqis were killed. Iraqi officials said the death toll was much lower. Residents, police and hospital officials said eight civilians were killed in their homes. In Muqdadiyah a suicide bomber blew himself up near a crowd of police recruits, killing at least 23 people and wounding 17. Fighting near the Sunni city of Ramadi left 23 insurgents dead.
(AP, 6/30/07)(SSFC, 7/1/07, p.A16)(AP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jun 30, An Israeli air strike killed 3 Palestinian militants in Gaza, including an Islamic Jihad commander long sought by Israel for involvement in rocket shootings at the Jewish state.
(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 30, Voting in general elections began in Papua New Guinea and was scheduled to continue to July 10. An average of 25 candidates stood for each of 109 seats. Bad weather pushed completion to mid July. The population numbered about 6 million.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.42)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.44)
2007 Jun 30, In Scotland a four-wheel-drive Jeep rammed into the main terminal at Glasgow airport and exploded in flames; the attack came a day after two cars rigged as bombs were found in London. Police arrested two men for the attack, one of them under guard in the hospital after being engulfed in flames when the Jeep crashed into the airport. The driver was later identified as Kafeel Ahmed (28), an Indian aeronautical engineer.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/30/08)
2007 Jun 30, Gunmen shot dead two civilians in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, as the government and Tamil Tigers blamed each other for the latest in a string of such killings.
(AFP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 30, Venezuela’s Pres. Chavez arrived in Iran for a two-day visit.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun, New Haven, Connecticut, passed a proposal through the board of aldermen 25 to 1 for an ID card to be made available to immigrants on July 24. The mayor was supportive, Yale Law School provided legal representation, and local immigrant-rights groups lobbied for it. The first cards were issued in July.
(CSM, 7/17/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.29)
2007 Jun, The periodical cicadas of Brood XIII emerged in the Midwestern US.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.39)
2007 Jun, A team from the Univ. of Wisconsin claimed to have developed a biofuel, called 2,5-dimethlyfuran, with a 40% higher energy density than ethanol.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.89)
2007 Jun, Wenda, a question-and-answer “knowledge community" product, developed by Google in China, was launched in Russia.
(Econ, 10/13/07, SR p.7)
2007 Jun, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi founded Dropbox, a San Francisco-based Internet file-storage company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_%28service%29)(SSFC, 7/14/13, p.D1)
2007 Jun, Algeria began construction on a $425 million hybrid power plant at Hassi R’mel. It will use sun and natural gas to generate 150 megawatts, 25 of which will come from solar panels, beginning in 2010. Solar panels were already in use for 18 off-grid Sahara villages.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A25)
2007 Jun, BP PLC said it will invest $90 million in a joint venture with UK-based D1 Oils PLC, a biofuels startup that is developing the jatropha plant in India and elsewhere. The oil rich, non-edible plant was first cultivated in South America and brought to India by Portuguese traders.
(WSJ, 8/24/07, p.A12)
2007 Jun, Cambodia received pledges from foreign governments, agencies and charities of $690 million in aid, 15% more than last year as China joined the pledge process.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.49)
2007 Jun, The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) was created.
(Econ, 1/23/10, p.73)(http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/CCRIF.html)
2007 Jun, In Iraq the US abandoned the construction of a desert prison and handed over the unfinished facility to Iraq's Justice Ministry. The ministry refused to "complete, occupy or provide security" for it. In March 2004, the Corps of Engineers had awarded a $40 million contract to global construction and engineering firm Parsons Corp. to design and build a prison for 3,600 inmates, along with educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to finish in November 2005. Violence in the area caused the project to fall way behind schedule. The US government pulled the plug on Parsons in June 2006.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2007 Jun, Italian officials broke up a terrorist ring with the arrest of four people, three in Milan and one in London, after examining financial records showing a steady transfer of funds from Tunisia allegedly used to recruit Islamic extremists and send them to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Jun, The World Monuments Fund added the Jordan River Valley to its list of 100 most endangered sites. Israel, Jordan and Syria diverted over 90% of the Jordan River water annually for drinking and irrigation, reducing flow to the Dead Sea.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun, The UN numbered Palestinians in Lebanon at 420,000, but a quiet exodus was believed to have reduced the number to 250,000. They were overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims and had no right to own property, and no right to receive state schooling or medical care.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.46)
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2007 Apr 1, Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor (GOP), announced that he is running for president.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 1, Brooklyn's borough president launched the Coney Island amusement park's last season ahead of a major redevelopment that will raze much of the lovably seedy boardwalk area.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Morgan Pressel became the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history with a game well beyond her 18 years, closing with a 3-under-par 69 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, In Charlotte, North Carolina, 2 police officers shot during a struggle with a suspect outside an apartment complex died, and a suspect was charged with murder.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In southern Afghanistan the Taliban executed three men accused of spying for NATO and government forces. A NATO airstrike targeted a compound housing Taliban militants in Shahjoy district of Zabul province, killing seven suspected militants inside. NATO-led troops and police clashed with suspected Taliban militants in Kandahar's Zhari district, leaving six militants dead. In eastern Afghanistan flash floods caused by torrential rains killed at least 16 people and destroyed dozens of houses near the Hindu Kush mountain range.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AFP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Cambodia held local commune elections. The Cambodian People’s Party won control in 1,592 of 1,621 communes amid opposition claims of fraud.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.38)
2007 Apr 1, In Canada Nelly Furtado stole the show at the Junos, playing the roles of both host and big winner at the 2007 edition of the nation's top music awards.
(Reuters, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, A knife-wielding Chinese tour guide injured 20 people in a stabbing-and-slashing spree at a southwestern resort following an argument over kickbacks on souvenir sales. Xu Mingchao (25) from the province of Heilongjiang, was arrested following the incident.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Danish researchers reported that they have isolated bacterial enzymes that effectively remove sugar molecules from red blood cells that provoke an immune reactions. This would allow conversion of the A, B, and AB blood types into Type O, the universal donor type that can be given to anyone.
(SFC, 4/2/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 1, Hans Filbinger (93), a former governor of Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state (1966-1978), died. He had resigned amid revelations about his past as a Nazi-era naval judge.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Laurie Baker (90), a British-born architect, died in India. He spent more than 60 years in India building homes that were ecologically sound and affordable for the poor.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Iran about 200 students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. Britain examined options for new dialogue with Tehran over the seized crew of 15 sailors and marines, as a poll suggested most Britons back the government's goal of resolving the standoff through diplomacy. Iran's state television aired new video showing two of the 15 captured British sailors pointing to a spot on a map of the Persian Gulf where they were seized and saying it was in Iranian territorial waters; Britain's Foreign Office immediately denounced the video.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/1/08)
2007 Apr 1, An Iraqi military spokesman said that militants fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad have made areas outside the capital "breeding grounds for violence," spreading deadly bombings and sectarian attacks to areas once relatively untouched. A bomb struck a popular market in Tuz Khormato, 130 miles north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding four. More than 600 Iraqis were killed in sectarian violence last week alone. 6 US soldiers were killed in roadside bombings over the weekend southwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert invited Arab leaders to attend a peace conference to discuss their ideas for reaching Mideast peace. The Israeli army sealed off the West Bank ahead of the weeklong Passover holiday, restricting the movement of Palestinians into Israel. In her first Mideast trip as EU president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered Europe's help in bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, trying to build on a new burst of international efforts to restart peace talks.
(AP, 4/1/07)(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Monterrey, Mexico, a tractor-trailer lost its brakes and killed nine people as it plowed through a residential area. The driver of a tractor-trailer was charged with homicide after testing positive for drugs.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 1, Nepal's communist rebels joined an interim government as part of a landmark peace deal that ended their decade-long insurgency, pledging to ensure development in the Himalayan nation and hold credible elections.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Palestinian journalists announced a three-day strike in protest at what they called their government's inadequate response to the suspected kidnap of a British journalist.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, Mogadishu's dominant clan said it has brokered a truce with Ethiopian military officials who are supporting Somalia's government, even as mortar shells continued slamming into the capital for a fourth day.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 1, In South Korea taxi driver Huh Se-uk (53) drove through heavy security into the driveway of a Seoul hotel where trade talks with the US were taking place. He sprayed himself with flammable fluid and lit a fire, suffering third-degree burns. Se-uk died from his wounds on April 15.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Sri Lanka 12 Tamil Tigers were killed in clashes in the northwestern district of Mannar.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 1, Unidentified gunmen killed five African Union soldiers guarding a "water point" near the Sudan’s border with Chad in the deadliest attack on the peacekeepers since their deployment in 2004. The attackers fled the scene after AU troops killed three of them in an exchange of fire.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 1, In Syria US House members meeting with President Bashar Assad said they believed there was an opportunity for dialogue.
(AP, 4/1/07)
2007 Apr 2, The US asked Tehran for information on the disappearance of a former FBI agent who went missing on a private business trip to Iran.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 2, The US Supreme Court ruled that a US government agency, the EPA, has the power under the clean air law to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that spur global warming. In its first case on climate change, the Supreme Court declared in a 5-4 ruling that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)(AP, 4/2/08)(Econ, 2/12/11, p.36)
2007 Apr 2, Florida won its second consecutive college basketball championship, beating Ohio State 84-75; the Gators became the first team to repeat since Duke in 1991-92.
(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, Chicago’s police superintendent, Philip Cline, announced his retirement after 2 videos emerged of off-duty police officers beating civilians.
(Econ, 10/20/07, p.42)(http://tinyurl.com/2tt8en)
2007 Apr 2, Sam Zell, billionaire real estate investor, reached an agreement to buy the Chicago-based Tribune Co. in a 2-stage deal valued at $8.2 billion. The buyout was completed in December and saddled the firm with $8 billion in new debt. In 2008 the Tribune slid into bankruptcy.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C1)(Econ, 3/23/13, p.36)
2007 Apr 2, First Data Corp. said it is being acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $27 billion.
(SFC, 4/3/07, p.C3)
2007 Apr 2, In Afghanistan 3 police died when militants attacked a checkpoint on the road linking the southern town of Kandahar with Spin Boldak on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, A UN conference on climate change opened in Belgium with the EU's top environment official calling on the US to join efforts to curb global warming.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Canada's controversial annual seal hunt opened in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the worst ice conditions in more than two decades have nearly wiped out the herd there.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, China’s first deadline for income taxes was extended a few days because of low compliance. Anyone earning over 120,000 yuan ($15,500) annually was supposed to file a return. In southwestern China developers tore down a stubborn couple's house after a three-year standoff that hindered a construction project and captivated the nation. The couple reportedly negotiated a deal with the real estate developer that gives them a new apartment and a sizable compensation package.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)(AP, 4/3/07)(Econ, 4/7/07, p.39)
2007 Apr 2, In Iraq a suicide truck bomber targeted a police station in the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, including many children from a nearby school. A parked car exploded in a garage near a governmental property registration agency in western Baghdad, killing three people and wounding 10. A suicide bomber drove his car into a police checkpoint in the southern insurgent stronghold of Dora, killing four people, including two policemen. A roadside bomb killed four civilians and wounded 20 in the Shiite town of Khalis. A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi military convoy, killing one soldier and wounding 7 in the Qazaniyah area northeast of Baghdad. 4 US soldiers were killed in combat.
(AP, 4/2/07)(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, Jordan's military court convicted six alleged militants of planning suicide attacks against Jordan's main international airport and against hotels hosting Israeli and American tourists.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Gunmen in Nigeria's southern Bayelsa State kidnapped two Lebanese nationals.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Around 5,000 tribesmen gathered in a Pakistani border area to enlist for ongoing battles against foreign Al-Qaeda militants.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Palestinian journalists began a three-day strike to protest the kidnapping of British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Alan Johnston, the longest-held reporter ever abducted in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Russia's foreign spy service released previously classified files on a double agent who, under the codename "Britt", passed secrets to Moscow from inside British intelligence in the 1940s.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Saudi Arabia signaled it is unlikely to accept an Israeli invitation to a regional peace conference, saying that Israel must first stop mistreating Palestinians and move to withdraw from Arab lands.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Tsunami waves churned by an undersea earthquake crashed ashore in the Solomon Islands, wiping away entire villages and triggering alerts from Australia to Hawaii. At least 50 people were killed.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/2/08)
2007 Apr 2, In Somalia a human rights organization said fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents has killed 381 people over four days.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, South Korea and the US agreed to a trade pact with only minutes to go before a deadline. Last-minute haggling meant missing two self-imposed deadlines over the weekend. Some estimates say the agreement could add $20 billion to the already more than $70 billion of two-way trade each year.
(Reuters, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, In eastern Sri Lanka at least 16 people, including three children, were killed and 25 wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus. Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 23 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting in the island's east.
(AP, 4/2/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 2, In Sudan 53 people were killed in a gruesome pair of minibus accidents north of Khartoum.
(AP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Thailand's premier hailed ties with Japan as he prepared to sign a free-trade agreement with his country's top investor, easing international isolation of the kingdom since last year's coup. Army-installed PM Surayud Chulanont will sign the deal April 3, which Thailand hopes will boost investment from Japan.
(AFP, 4/2/07)
2007 Apr 2, Ukraine’s president called early elections for May 27 amid a standoff with the pro-Russian premier, who vowed to fight what he called a coup.
(WSJ, 4/3/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 3, President Bush denounced Democrats for going on spring break without approving money for the Iraq war; he also criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to Syria.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, An AP investigation said CIA and FBI agents hunting for al-Qaida militants in the Horn of Africa have been interrogating terrorism suspects from 19 countries held at secret prisons in Ethiopia, which is notorious for torture and abuse.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, An ex-con shot and killed his ex-girlfriend at the CNN headquarters complex in Atlanta before being wounded by a security guard. Arthur Mann was later convicted of murdering Clara Riddles and sentenced to life without parole.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, After a nine-year title drought, Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team captured a seventh national title, beating Rutgers 59-46.
(AP, 4/3/08)
2007 Apr 3, Eddie Robinson (b.1919), 56-year head football coach at Grambling College, died in Ruston, La.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Robinson_(football_coach))
2007 Apr 3, UN officials in Afghanistan said avalanches and floods triggered by heavy rains and spring snow melt have killed about 150 people in recent days in the mountains of central Asia. The toll in Afghanistan reached 88 with over 50 killed in Pakistan. In southwest Afghanistan 2 French aid workers and their three Afghan staff went missing between Nimroz and neighboring Farah province.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, A state news agency said China's government has ordered newspapers to stamp out the common practice of demanding money from people they cover.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Colombian authorities captured Ever Veloza, a fugitive right-wing warlord accused in massacres and of running a murderous criminal band involved in drug trafficking and extortion. He was arrested in the banana-growing Uraba region on the Caribbean coast. Veloza already faces charges in the April 11, 2001, massacre of 26 peasants in the southwestern town of Naya.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant for three Israelis accused of training private armies of Colombian drug cartels and right-wing death squads. Yair Klein, Melnik Ferri and Tzedaka Abraham were being sought on charges of criminal conspiracy and instruction in terrorism.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Official figures said the number of Egyptians inside and outside the country has risen to more than 76 million, meaning an Egyptian baby is born every 23 seconds.
(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, A French train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped through the countryside to the applause of spectators. It surpassed the record of 320.2 mph set in 1990 by another French train. It fell short of beating the ultimate record set by Japan's magnetically levitated train, which hit 361 mph in 2003.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nina Wang (69), Asia's richest woman, died in Hong Kong after reports she had been battling cancer, leaving unanswered questions over her estimated $4.2 billion (2.1 billion pound) fortune. Wang successfully battled her father-in-law for a multi-billion dollar estate left by her late husband Teddy Wang, a property tycoon who vanished in 1990. Wang left her $4 billion fortune to Chan Chun-chuen, a master of feng shui in a will dated Oct. 16, 2006. On Feb 2, 2010, a Hong Kong court deemed the will a forgery.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/20/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.78)(AP, 2/2/10)
2007 Apr 3, Activists said traffickers are selling children in India for amounts that are often lower than the cost of animals and most of them end up working as laborers or commercial sex workers.
(Reuters, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a meeting of Islamic clerics that Muslim nations should ultimately replace coalition forces in Iraq after a period of national reconciliation. Cliff Muntu (21), a student at Indonesia’s Institute of Public Administration (IPDN), died from wounds due to hazing by his seniors. This was the 35th death in the school since 1993.
(AP, 4/3/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Muntu)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 3, Iran reported that an Iranian diplomat in Iraq seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen has been released.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Baghdad a senior foreign ministry official said his government was "intensively" seeking the release of five Iranians detained there by the US. Two US soldiers were killed by small-arms fire, one in eastern Baghdad and another on foot patrol in the southern outskirts of the capital. Iraqi and US troops found a huge stash of weapons in a raid on the home of Sunni legislator Khalaf al-Ilyan. They detained at least a dozen men for questioning. Khalaf al-Ilyan, in Jordan for surgery, later denied the charges and accused the Iraqi government and Iran of trying to discredit him because of his criticism of state policies.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 3, Japan and Thailand signed a free trade agreement that will cut tariffs on a wide range of traded goods, from seafood to automobiles.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar lost an appeal against a decision by the electoral commission to bar him from this month's presidential election. Two courts issued competing rulings on the disqualification, setting up a legal showdown just weeks before an election meant to solidify civilian rule in the country.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of flag-waving protesters rallied at Pakistan's Supreme Court to urge President Pervez Musharraf to step down for controversially dismissing the country's top judge.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In the Philippines Pete Amurin, a local election board official in the city of Puerto Rincesa, capital of Palawan island west of Manila, was shot dead at close range near his office.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir appointed the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, Taiwan Presidential front-runner Ma Ying-jeou pleaded not guilty at his corruption trial in Taipei, saying that his use of a special municipal fund was in keeping with government standards. A helicopter crashed into a radio tower near Kaohsiung and killed 8 crew members.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 3, Thousands of Ukrainian protesters streamed into the capital in the most serious confrontation between the prime minister and the president since the two men faced off during the Orange Revolution.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 3, In Zimbabwe trucks of riot police drove through Harare and military helicopters flew overhead on the first day of a national strike to protest deepening economic hardships blamed on the government of President Robert Mugabe. The strike received a cool response from workers worried about forfeiting vital wages. A UN study said Zimbabwe was Africa's worst economic performer in 2006.
(AP, 4/3/07)(AFP, 4/3/07)
2007 Apr 4, Apple updated its desktop Mac Pro computers adding two new 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, bringing 8-core processing to the Mac. The new machines can run the 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processors and are available as build to order options.
(www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/04/eightcore/index.php)
2007 Apr 4, Radio host Don Imus made offensive on-air remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Despite a subsequent apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and cable network MSNBC; he was hired elsewhere by year's end.
(AP, 4/4/08)
2007 Apr 4, Jon and Karen Huntsman, the billionaire parents of Utah’s Gov. Jon Huntsman, announced that they would pay $1 million for a public education campaign in Utah about the risks of cervical cancer and a new vaccine that can prevent it.
(SFC, 4/5/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, NYSE Euronext shares slipped in their first day of trading following the completion of the $14 billion deal that created the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange. Jan-Michiel Hessels served as chairman of the NYSE following the merger with Euronext.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_bi_ge/nyse_euronext)(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 4, Film director Robert Clark (67), best known for the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" (1983), was killed in southern California with his son in a head-on crash with a vehicle steered into the wrong lane by a drunken driver.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Algeria an international desertification conference closed with a call (dubbed the Algiers Appeal) to all African countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to help slow the rapid expansion of deserts on the continent.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Argentina's main teachers' union called for a one-day national strike next week after protesting colleagues seeking higher pay clashed with riot police in two provinces.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, The United Nations children's agency called for urgent action to tackle a "humanitarian disaster" in the Central African Republic (CAR), affected by conflict for the past ten years.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Chile police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesting students in the capital of Santiago, and detained nearly 100 people.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Ecuador's constitutional court upheld a decision by the country's electoral tribunal to fire more than half of the politically unstable nation's legislature.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, In India South Asian leaders (SAARC) wrapped up a two-day summit predicting a new dawn for the region but offering little in terms of concrete action.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 15 detained British sailors and marines as an Easter holiday "gift" to the British people. Syria said it played a key role in resolving the standoff over the 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran. Turkey brokered the release of the British sailors.
(AP, 4/4/07)(Econ, 8/21/10, p.42)
2007 Apr 4, Iraq's top corruption fighter said that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus carrying power plant workers in a predominantly Sunni area west of Kirkuk, killing six men. Gunmen also attacked a police patrol near Baqouba, killing four officers. 6 of the gunmen were killed in a subsequent gunbattle. Two mortar rounds also slammed into a house in the predominantly Shiite town of Khalis, just after midnight, killing a woman and wounding two other women and a 4-year-old boy. Gunmen wearing police uniforms seized 22 shepherds and their sheep in southern Iraq in the latest mass abduction of Shiite workers by presumed Sunni insurgents. A roadside bomb killed two US soldiers and wounded three others in southern Baghdad. Another blast north of the capital killed two soldiers and wounded one.
(AP, 4/4/07)(AFP, 4/4/07)(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 4, New Ivory Coast PM Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader who has controlled the north for four years, took office, a key step in an accord aimed at bringing a lasting peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Kuwait a medical source said preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi urged Africa to form a unified continental army to defend its interests. He said former colonial powers should pay compensation for the raw materials they had extracted.
(Reuters, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Hostage takers in southern Nigeria released four foreign workers held captive in the oil-rich region. The British High Commission and an industry source said a Briton and a Dutch national held hostage in volatile oil-rich southern Nigeria have been released. Gordon Gray was kidnapped March 31 from an offshore rig in the Niger delta. The Dutch man was kidnapped March 23 from Port Harcourt. 2 Lebanese nationals working for a construction firm, Setraco, were also released.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Northern Ireland protestant leader Ian Paisley shook hands with Irish PM Bertie Ahern in public for the first time, marking another small step on the path to peace.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Heavy fighting between Pakistani tribesmen and foreign militants allegedly linked to al-Qaida killed 60 people near the Afghan border. About 50 of those killed in the past 24 hours in the South Waziristan region were Uzbeks. The main commander of the tribal militia battling the foreign militants is Maulvi Nazir, a known Taliban sympathizer who the government says has come over to its side. Nazir recently established Islamic courts throughout South Waziristan, a 10,000-square-mile area with some 500,000 inhabitants.
(AP, 4/4/07)(SFC, 6/1/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 4, A Palestinian gunman was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops in an area where militants frequently fire rockets toward Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In the Philippines police said they found the bodies of two missing members of the militant Peasant Movement of the Philippines, or KMP, near a river in the northern town of Lailo in Cagayan province.
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Sri Lanka’s defense ministry said its warplanes "bombed and completely destroyed" a key Tamil Tiger naval base.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, In Damascus US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held talks with Syria's leader despite White House objections, saying she pressed President Bashar Assad over his country's support for militant groups and passed him a peace message from Israel.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Thousands of supporters of Ukraine's Russian-leaning prime minister marched to the office of the pro-Western president, protesting a presidential order to hold early elections.
(AP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 4, Offices and factories in Zimbabwe's two main cities were operating as normal on the second day of a 48-hour strike called by the main labor organization over the deepening economic crisis. Many workers appeared to have shunned the call on the second day of the stoppage organized by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
(AFP, 4/4/07)
2007 Apr 5, The US pressed Ethiopia for details on detainees from 19 nations taken to secret prisons there and interrogated by CIA and FBI agents.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, The US Transportation Dept. said it will require all passenger vehicles to have electronic gear to prevent deadly rollovers by 2012.
(WSJ, 4/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 5, Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist persuaded 2 of 3 members of the state board of executive clemency that most felons had served their time and should automatically recover the right to vote.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.35)
2007 Apr 5, FBI Special Agent Barry Lee Bush was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow agent as a stakeout team closed in on three suspected bank robbers in Readington, N.J.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, In San Mateo, Ca., Dr. William Ayres (75), a published child psychologist, was arrested on 14 counts of child molestation, which dated back as far as 1969. 4 new charges were added on April 12. In 2013 Ayres was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/13/07, p.B1)(SFC, 8/27/13, p.C1)
2007 Apr 5, Darryl Stingley (55), a former New England Patriots player paralyzed during an on-field collision in 1978, died in Chicago.
(AP, 4/5/08)
2007 Apr 5, Australian police charged two men, including an army captain, with stealing military rocket launchers, some of which ended up in the hands of a suspected terrorist.
(AFP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Fifteen British sailors and marines held captive by Iran returned home to a nation relieved at their freedom but also outraged that they were used by Tehran's propaganda machine.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Ramzan Kadyrov was inaugurated as the new president of Chechnya on a blessing from the Kremlin, which has relied on him to stabilize the region after more than a decade of separatist fighting.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, China told banks to increase their reserves for the third time this year, cutting the amount of money available for lending in a new effort to cool an investment boom that Beijing worries could lead to a financial crisis. Chinese celebrated the annual tomb-sweeping festival, but state media said soaring funeral costs were leading to people complaining they can no longer afford to die.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bus carrying passengers on the start of the Easter holiday crashed in northern Colombia, igniting a blaze that killed 27 people, including six children.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Greek cruise ship, the Sea Diamond, sank off the Aegean Sea island of Santorini, forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,600 people.
(AP, 4/5/08)(SSFC, 12/14/08, p.E3)
2007 Apr 5, The editor-in-chief of Playboy Indonesia was acquitted of charges that he violated the Muslim nation's indecency laws by publishing pictures of scantily clothed women.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A bomb struck an oil pipeline, cutting off supplies and causing a huge fire in southern Iraq near the border with Kuwait. A US Army helicopter went down south of Baghdad, injuring 4 of the 9 soldiers aboard. A US soldier was killed by small-arms fire while on patrol in eastern Baghdad. 4 British soldiers and a Kuwaiti interpreter were killed in an ambush in southern Iraq. Thaer Ahmed, assistant director of Baghdad TV, was killed when a car bomb struck the television offices in Jami'a, in west Baghdad. 12 people were wounded. Police in west Baghdad found the bullet-riddled body of Khamael Muhsin, a famous television presenter during Saddam Hussein's rule. She was kidnapped two days ago. Gunmen killed 18 Iraqi, British and American soldiers in the past 24 hours in attacks in Baghdad, the southern oil hub of Basra and near the northern city of Mosul.
(AP, 4/5/07)(Reuters, 4/5/07)(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 5, Kosovo's parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a UN plan that proposes internationally supervised independence for the disputed province.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, In eastern Pakistan a speeding tractor plowed into a roadside school, killing nine children and injuring 18 others.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A British diplomat met with Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh to push for the release of a kidnapped BBC journalist, the first direct meeting between a European Union diplomat and a Hamas official of the Palestinians' new coalition government.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, Attackers fired a grenade into a mosque in Thailand's restive south, wounding 16 Muslim worshippers in an act of defiance after authorities imposed a strict curfew to contain escalating violence.
(AP, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 5, A Ugandan court scrapped the nation's adultery law, saying it was unconstitutional and favored men.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, The US Department of Education said an official in its student financial aid office has been placed on paid leave while his stock ownership in a student loan company is being reviewed.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Arizona authorities found at least 80 suspected illegal immigrants in a house west of Phoenix and arrested two suspected smugglers.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Florida US District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that Luis Posada Carriles could be released on $250,000 bond. He is being held at the Otero County jail in New Mexico on charges he lied to immigration authorities in a bid to become a naturalized citizen. Posada, a former CIA operative, is wanted in Cuba in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people, a charge Posada denies. Castro has repeatedly accused the US government of protecting Posada.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 6, In San Francisco Umar Hudson stabbed his girlfriend, Jernell Scott, to death in front of her home on Ellsworth Street after she reported his sexual abuse of her two daughters, aged 9 & 13. In 2012 Hudson (35) was sentenced to 205 years to life in prison.
(SFC, 1/26/12, p.C6)
2007 Apr 6, Supernova SN2007bi was first observed in a nearby dwarf galaxy. It burned steadily for months. In 2009 scientists reported that the explosion was probably that of a super massive star, at least two hundred times the mass of the Sun.
(www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=astronomers-witness-biggest-st)
2007 Apr 6, in Afghanistan a suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint in Kabul, killing four people, including a policeman who tried to stop him. Taliban rebels seized control of Khak Afghan district in southern Zabul province.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Royal Navy lieutenant who was among the captives held by Iran said British sailors and marines held for nearly two weeks were blindfolded, bound and threatened with prison if they did not say they strayed into Iranian waters.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Health officials said teenage girls in Cambodia and Indonesia have died of bird flu as the virus continues to stalk across Asia.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, China published new rules governing human organ transplants in its latest effort to clean up a business critics say has little regard for medical ethics. These included consent from the deceased owner’s family.
(AP, 4/7/07)(Econ., 3/14/15, p.48)
2007 Apr 6, The Greek cruise ship Sea Diamond, which had struck a volcanic reef and forced the evacuation of hundreds of tourists sank, 15 hours after it began taking on water off the coast of Santarini Island. Navy divers searched around the sunken wreckage for a Frenchman and his daughter, the only two passengers still missing.
(AP, 4/6/07)(SFC, 4/6/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 6, Iraq’s government it has ordered that senior officers of Saddam Hussein's military receive pensions and requested that lower-ranking soldiers serve again as part of a sectarian reconciliation plan. The decision was made last month. A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens. American troops swept into the troubled, predominantly Shiite city of Diwaniyah before dawn, killing three militia fighters and capturing 27 in the first day of an assault, named "Operation Black Eagle." In Baghdad, two American soldiers were killed and seven were wounded by two separate roadside bombs.
(AP, 4/6/07)(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Amado Ramirez, the Acapulco correspondent for Mexico's top television news network, was shot to death.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pakistani mullah Abdul Aziz said he had set up a Taliban-style Islamic court at his mosque in Islamabad and pledged "tens of thousands" of suicide attacks if the government tries to shut it down.
(AFP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Pasteur Bizimungu, Rwanda's first post-genocide leader, walked free from prison after a surprise presidential pardon of his convictions that included inciting ethnic tension.
(AP, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, In Saudi Arabia Waleed bin Mutlaq al-Radadi, among the kingdom's most wanted terrorists, was killed in a gunbattle with Saudi forces. Al-Radadi was implicated in the Feb 26 killing of 4 French nationals.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 6, Somali pirates freed two hijacked merchant ships, including one that had just delivered UN food aid when it was seized more than a month ago with 12 crew on board.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 6, A Chinese delegation arrived in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for a 4-day visit. They met officials and visited camps for the internally displaced.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 6, UN climate experts issued their starkest warning yet about the impact of global warming, ranging from hunger in Africa to a fast thaw in the Himalayas, in a report that increased pressure on governments to act.
(Reuters, 4/6/07)
2007 Apr 6, Human migrant traffickers forced some 300 African migrants to jump into the sea off Yemen causing at least 32 to die.
(SFC, 4/7/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 7, The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition that the Bush administration in January allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in an apparent violation of a UN Security Council sanctions resolution passed months earlier over its nuclear test.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of people marched through downtown Los Angeles, demanding a way for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens and condemning President Bush's latest proposal.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s chairman and chief executive, took in more than $400 million in compensation in 2006, one of the biggest single-year payouts in US corporate history.
(Reuters, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The sport salmon fishing season opened in California.
(SSFC, 4/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, In Oregon 15 libraries in Jackson were due to close following the loss of $7 million in federal funding.
(SSFC, 3/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 7, It was reported that injections of Mycobacterium vaccae into mice caused their immune systems to produce serotonin. This neurotransmitter, when low in humans, was known to be related to depression.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.79)
2007 Apr 7, Johnny Hart (76), creator of the B.C. comic strip (1958), died at his home in Endicott, NY. He and Brant Parker created the “Wizard of Id" strip.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 7, Actor Barry Nelson (b.1917) died in Bucks County, Pa. He was the first actor to portray Ian Fleming's secret agent James Bond in a 1954 TV adoption of Casino Royale.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.B8)(AP, 4/7/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Nelson)
2007 Apr 7, In southwestern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed Afghan workers of an American de-mining company, leaving seven people dead and four wounded. Officials said more than 1,000 NATO and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban and took over control of Sangin, a district center in southern Afghanistan long held by the militants.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Suspected Islamist militants opened fire on a military patrol in northwestern Algeria, starting a gunbattle that left nine soldiers and six attackers dead.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In Brazil Martin Strel, a 52-year-old Slovenian, completed a 3,272 swim down the Amazon River that could set a world record for distance. In 2000, he completed a 1,866-mile swim along the Danube. He broke that record two years later after swimming 2,360 miles down the Mississippi. In 2004 he broke it again by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, In India a jeep carrying a gelatin-based explosive used for a highway construction project exploded in a southern village, killing 16 people and injuring 22 more.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, US warplanes attacked suspected militiamen wielding shoulder-fired rockets in the second day of fierce fighting against Shiite gunmen south of Baghdad. At least one civilian was killed and five were seriously wounded when an American tank fired on their house in Diwaniyah. Iraqi troops killed Abu Baraa al-Libi, a Libyan al-Qaida figure, in a raid on his Baghdad hideout just before the man could detonate an explosives belt he was wearing. US forces also killed one suspect and captured 8 others in raids in Baghdad and south of Ramadi. A roadside bomb exploded next to a joint American-Iraqi army patrol on a highway leading into Annah, 175 miles northwest of Baghdad. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed and two were wounded. Police in Fallujah reported finding four bodies in the center of the city. Four American soldiers were killed in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. Duaa Khalil Aswad (17), a member of the insular Yazidi religious sect, was stoned to death for loving a Sunni Muslim boy [see April 22].
(AP, 4/7/07)(AP, 4/8/07)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A8)
2007 Apr 7, An Israeli helicopter launched an airstrike along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel, killing a Palestinian militant and wounding two others.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, The 17-year insurgency in Kashmir continued with an average of 3 lives lost every day. India had an estimated 600,000 soldiers and paramilitary police stationed in Jammu & Kashmir state.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.14)
2007 Apr 7, Emergency officials said 247 dead seals have washed up on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan in the past week.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Libya’s foreign-exchange reserves were estimated at $56 billion. The population was reported to be about 5.6 million.
(Econ, 4/7/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 7, Malaysian ministers issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.
(AFP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, In northern Pakistan some 40 people were killed and more than 70 injured in 2 days of sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Kurram.
(AFP, 4/7/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 7, In the southern Philippines 9 soldiers and a civilian were killed in a clash in a small army camp in Jolo island’s Parang town.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 7, A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word roared into the night skies over Kazakhstan, sending Charles Simonyi and two cosmonauts soaring into orbit on a two-day journey to the international space station.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, A roadside bomb tore through a civilian bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing seven people and wounding 26. The army blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Thousands of supporters of Ukrainian PM Viktor Yanukovych rallied for a fifth day in the streets of Kiev, calling for stability amid a political crisis over the president's dissolution of parliament.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 7, Yemeni police arrested three men suspected of setting fire to a mosque and wounding at least 33 people.
(AP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 8, Zach Johnson won the Masters with a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods.
(AP, 4/8/08)
2007 Apr 8, Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor who has undertaken diplomatic missions to countries at odds with the United States, began a rare visit to isolated North Korea to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the Korean War.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, A federal judge in El Paso, Texas, dismissed immigration fraud charges against Luis Posada Carriles (79), a former CIA operative accused of masterminding a 1976 bombing of a Cuban civilian airplane along with 1997 bombings in Havana.
(SFC, 5/10/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 8, Sol LeWitt (b.1928), Connecticut-based artist, photographer and sculptor, died in NY. He was known for his dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art styles. “LeWitt brought about a fundamental shift in taste with sculptures and drawings that put thought rather than feeling, ideas rather than aesthetics at the forefront."
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.D9)(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.P16)(SFC, 3/26/11, p.E1)
2007 Apr 8, A purported spokesman for the Taliban said the kidnapped translator for an Italian journalist was killed in southern Afghanistan. In the eastern Paktika province, two Afghan guards were killed and five wounded during a four-hour firefight with Taliban militants. In eastern Khost province, a gunman riding on the back of a motorcycle opened fire on Afghans working for NATO's International Security Assistance Force, killing two of the men and wounding another. In eastern Nangarhar province, a suicide car bomber blew himself up next to a US-led coalition convoy. 2 roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan left seven NATO soldiers dead. 6 Canadians died in one of the 2 blasts.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Argentina 7 managers of Skanska, a Swedish construction firm, were arrested for tax evasion. Skanska sacked the managers and paid the tax authority almost $5 million.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 Apr 8, Britain's Defense Ministry came under fire for allowing 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran for 13 days to sell their stories to the media.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Chinese ship, Jinhaikun, and a foreign cargo vessel, Harvest, collided off the east China coast in Taizhou Bay. 19 Chinese and one Indonesian missing in the accident were all on the Harvest.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In western Iran at least 26 people were killed and 18 others injured after a truck smashed into a bus.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqi forces to stop cooperating with the US and told his guerrilla fighters to concentrate their attacks on American troops rather than Iraqis. A pickup truck loaded with artillery shells exploded near a hospital in Mahmoudiyah, killing 17 Iraqis. US forces captured a senior al-Qaida leader and two others in a raid in Baghdad. 6 US soldiers were killed in a series of attack.
(AP, 4/8/07)(AFP, 4/9/07)(SFC, 4/9/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 8, In Japan Nationalist Shintaro Ishihara won a third term as governor of Tokyo.
(Reuters, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, The body of a murdered South African national, Kenneth Scott Andrew (26), was found in a plastic bag on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 8, A Palestinian attacker stabbed and wounded two Israeli police officers at a checkpoint outside a Hebron shrine that has been a flashpoint for violence in the past.
(AP, 4/8/07)
2007 Apr 8, In the Philippines Julia Campbell (40), American Peace Corps volunteer from Fairfax, Va., was last seen in the town of Banaue in Ifugao province. Her body was found April 18 in a shallow grave near Batad village. In 2008 Juan Duntugan was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/30/08)
2007 Apr 9, President Bush visited the US-Mexico border to tout a guest worker program for immigrants.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2007 Apr 9, Don Imus, nationally syndicated shock jock, was suspended for 2 weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC due to his calling members of the Rutgers Univ. women’s basketball team “nappy-headed ho’s." On April 11 NBC News decided to fire him; CBS followed the next day.
(SFC, 4/10/07, p.A1)(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Suspected Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rocket propelled grenades in southern Afghanistan, killing two soldiers and wounding up to 14. Suspected Taliban attacked a police vehicle north of Kandahar city, leaving a policeman dead.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Thousands of teachers walked out of public schools across Argentina in a daylong strike to demand higher pay and justice for a slain colleague.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Britain's government beat a hasty retreat under withering criticism for allowing sailors and marines to be paid large sums for their stories about captivity in Iran.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, East Timor held elections. A Nobel laureate squared off with two rivals in presidential elections that could test East Timor's fragile calm a year after one of the world's youngest and poorest nations reached the brink of civil war.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, An Ethiopian judge freed 25 journalists charged in a treason trial involving more than 100 opposition figures that has drawn international criticism as being politically motivated.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, State press reported that China's farmland is becoming increasingly polluted, with coal-dependent factories and polluted waterways causing billions of dollars in damages.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, China urged Sudan to be more flexible on a plan put forward by former UN chief Kofi Annan to bolster peacekeeping operations in the war-torn western region of Darfur.
(AFP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Iran announced that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, dramatically expanding a program that the UN has demanded it halt. An Iranian Revolutionary Guard general visited Russia despite a UN travel ban over Tehran nuclear defiance. Russia denied any violation.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, Tens of thousands draped themselves in Iraqi flags and marched peacefully through the streets from Kufa to Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's fall. Demonstrators were flanked by two cordons of police as they called for US forces to leave, shouting "Get out, get out occupier!" In southern Baghdad, a sniper killed a civilian and a policeman, and a mortar round killed one person and wounded two others. A total of 25 people were killed or found dead across Iraq. 4 US soldiers were killed, 3 by a roadside bomb and a secondary explosion in southeastern Baghdad and another in combat in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/9/07)(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Japan lent some 850 million dollars to PM Nuri al-Maliki's government as the oil-hungry Asian power looked to boost output from the war-torn country. Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki met with Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, starting off a four-day visit that was delayed after Iran refused to allow his plane to fly over its airspace.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, Pakistan’s army announced that the Talibs had cleared foreigners from South Waziristan.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.43)
2007 Apr 9, Puerto Rico seven inmates, convicted of homicides, escaped from prison using ventilation ducts.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Two Russian cosmonauts and US billionaire Charles Simony bringing a gourmet meal arrived at the international space station, to a warm welcome from current crewmen.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 9, Officials said the yearly salaries of Singapore's well-paid government ministers are headed higher, by 60 percent to more than $1.25 million by the end of 2008. Premier Lee Hsein Lloong will now make $2.1 million a year.
(AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 9, A Sudanese army spokesman said 17 Sudanese soldiers were killed in clashes with Chadian troops inside Sudanese territory.
(Reuters, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 9, In an Easter message pinned to church bulletin boards around the country, Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic bishops called on President Robert Mugabe to leave office or face "open revolt" from those suffering under his government.
(AP, 4/9/07)
2007 Apr 10, The US Treasury Department said authorities in Macau are ready to release frozen North Korean funds that have impeded disarmament talks.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Maryland became the first US state to approve a plan to give its electoral votes for president to the winner of the national popular vote, instead of the candidate chosen by state voters. The plan would only go into effect if states representing a majority of the nation’s 538 electoral votes decided to make the same change.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Protein Sciences, a vaccine company, said caterpillars offer a faster, safer medium to culture flue vaccine than chicken eggs.
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, Dakota Staton (b.1930), jazz singer, died in NYC. She was well known for her 1957 album “The Late, Late Show."
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 10, A court in the Bahamas announced that DNA tests proved Larry Birkhead, the former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith, is the father of her infant daughter.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 10, Bolivia opened a new front in its fight to reduce illegal coca production, sending US-backed eradication teams into a traditional coca-growing region in the Andean foothills long avoided by previous governments.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Diabetes scientists reported that 15 Type 1 Brazilians did not need insulin shots after therapy with stem cells from their own blood. It was also reported that such stem cells helped repair heart damage due to Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, carried by kissing bugs (barbeiros).
(WSJ, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 10, China reported a sharp drop in its politically sensitive trade surplus and angrily rejected US plans to file a World Trade Organization complaint over product piracy amid pressure for Beijing to rein in its bulging trade gap. The US filed two new complaints against China at the WTO over copyright policy and restrictions on the sale of American movies, music and books. China missed its deadline for announcing a total tally of completed tax returns. Officials estimated some 1.6 million filed with 6m-7m required to file.
(AP, 4/10/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.49)
2007 Apr 10, In China’s southeast Guangxi Zhuangzu region thousands of fish were reported killed this month in a lake near Nanning due to “sharp drops in temperature."
(SFC, 4/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 10, Peter Brixtofte (57), the free-spending Danish mayor of Hilleroed (1986-2002), was convicted of abusing his office and sentenced to two years in prison. He had became hugely popular for offering free vacations to retirees and computers to school children.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The Ethiopian government acknowledged detaining 41 suspected international terrorists from 17 countries and said foreign investigators were given permission to question them. A statement said 29 of the suspects have been ordered released by a Military Court and five already have been freed.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that a British woman left infertile after being treated for ovarian cancer has no right to frozen embryos against the wishes of her former fiance, who provided the sperm.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Greece cleanup crews struggled to avert a major oil spill after a sunken cruise ship leaked dozens of tons of oil off the resort island of Santorini at the start of the summer tourist season.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Iraq's prime minister began a visit to South Korea saying he wants to learn from the Asian nation's fast rise as an economic power. A woman with explosives hidden beneath her abaya detonated them in a crowd of about 200 police recruits in Muqdadiyah, killing at least 16 people. A battle in two Sunni enclaves left 20 suspected insurgents and 4 Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 US soldiers wounded. A parked car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near Baghdad University, killing at least 6 people and wounding 11. A Katyusha rocket hit a basketball court at a boy’s school in eastern Baghdad, killing a 6-year-old boy and wounding 17 others. US troops began building a wall around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 10, Israeli authorities said they had arrested 19 Palestinian militants in March for planning to set off a huge car bomb in Tel Aviv over the Jewish holiday of Passover.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea, which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test last year.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, The African Union readmitted Mauritania to the pan-African organization from which it was suspended after a coup in 2005.
(AFP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Moroccan police surrounded a building in Casablanca where four terrorism suspects were holed, causing three to flee and blow themselves up with explosives. The fourth was shot dead by a police sharpshooter as he apparently tried to detonate his bomb.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Officials from North and South Korea's Red Cross societies resumed talks on resolving the issue of South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees believed held in the communist country.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Panama the charred and mutilated body of Staten Island businesswoman Toni Grossi Abrams (57) was found on the outskirts of Panama City. Debra Ann Ridgley (56) of Pennsylvania, was later arrested as a suspect in the killing but had not been formally charged. Police searched for two other suspects identified as Colombian men, one of whom has previous drug charges against him.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Serbia 4 paramilitaries seen in a video gunning down Bosnian Muslims near Srebrenica in 1995 were convicted of war crimes against civilians by Serbia's War Crimes Court.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Khartoum to join the international push for UN peacekeepers in Darfur, amid fears of a regional spillover after clashes between Sudan and Chad. Officials said the UN, the African Union and the Sudanese government have reached agreement to beef up the African force in Sudan's violence-wracked Darfur region with UN troops, police and equipment.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 10, Clashes between Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil rebels in the island's north killed about 30 people. In southern Sri Lanka a passenger bus collided with a beer delivery truck and burst into flames, killing at least 23 people and injuring 56.
(AP, 4/10/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 10, In Switzerland thieves stole jewelry worth about $825,000 from the Baselwood fair, the world's biggest and most luxurious watch and jewelry fair.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 11, The US Pentagon extended Iraq and Afghan tours of duty for all troops from 12 months to 15 months.
(WSJ, 4/1207, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, A federal grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, indicted Christopher Paul (43), a US citizen, on charges of joining al-Qaida in the 1990s and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and US government facilities and military bases overseas. Paul, born as Paul Kenyatta Laws, changed his name to Abdulmalek Kenyatta in 1989, then to Christopher Paul in 1994.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he will announce a settlement with a "significant" student lender as a probe into a college loan scandal continued to broaden.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Joe Francis (b.1973), the creator of the “Girls Gone Wild" video series, was indicted in Reno, Nevada, on federal tax charges. In September 2009, Francis pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers. On November 5, 2009, US District Judge S. James Otero accepted Francis’ deal on the grounds that a key witness withheld information from prosecutors.
(SFC, 1/29/10, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Francis)
2007 Apr 11, North Carolina's top prosecutor dropped all charges against three former Duke University lacrosse players accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party, saying the athletes were innocent victims of a "tragic rush to accuse."
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, MSNBC announced it was dropping its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning" radio program, responding to growing outrage about host Don Imus' racial slur against the Rutgers women's basketball team. CBS Radio followed suit the next day.
(AP, 4/11/08)
2007 Apr 11, Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest financial institution, said it will eliminate about 17,000 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring to reduce costs and improve profit.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund announced a $15 million donation for renovations at the Presidio. Plans included 24 new trails.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 11, Roscoe Lee Browne (b.1925), stage, film and TV actor, died in Los Angeles. In 1966 he made his directorial stage debut with “A Hand is on the Gate: An Evening of Negro Poetry and Folk Music."
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 11, Kurt Vonnegut (b.1922), regarded by many critics as a key influence in shaping 20th-century American literature, died in NYC. He mixed the bitter and funny with a touch of the profound in books such as "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle," and "Hocus Pocus." In 2009 Loree Rackstraw, a former student, authored “Love as Always, Kurt: Vonnegut As I Knew Him." In 2011 Charles J. Shields authored “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life."
(AP, 4/12/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.98)(WSJ, 3/16/09, p.A17)(SSFC, 11/27/11, p.F1)
2007 Apr 11, In southern Afghanistan a suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy, wounding seven civilians, while a US-led coalition airstrike killed 13 suspected militants. Another bomb blast in the south killed two Canadian soldiers and wounded three others.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Algeria bombs heavily damaged the prime minister's office in Algiers and a police station. Three bomb attacks killed 20 people and wounded 222.
(AP, 4/11/07)(AP, 4/12/07)(AFP, 3/13/12)
2007 Apr 11, Bangladesh police said main opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed, former prime minister and head of the Awami League, has been charged over the murder of four people during political violence which racked the nation's capital last October.
(AP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.46)
2007 Apr 11, In Brazil Gov. Sergio Cabral Filho formally requested that the army intervene to contain the violence that has been spiraling out of control in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, PM Tony Blair urged Britain's black communities to speak out against gang culture and called again for tougher laws against gangs amid a spate of gun and knife murders.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Canadian National Railway faced picket lines, but the union said it does not plan this new job action to be as disruptive as the strike that hamstrung Canada's largest railway in February.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Three candidates battled for a spot in East Timor's presidential runoff after none got enough votes to win outright.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Officials said Ecuador’s former President Gustavo Noboa will face charges for allegedly mishandling foreign debt negotiations during his three-year term (2000-2003).
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, Guyana's Pres. Bharrat Jagdeo said former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik has withdrawn from contracts to advise two Caribbean governments on security because of unresolved legal troubles in the United States.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 11, The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a new report titled "Civilians Without Protection: The Ever-worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq." Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the US military spokesman, said Iranian intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters inside Iran on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, The Ivory Coast government and rebels signed an agreement with foreign peacekeepers to dismantle a buffer zone dividing the west African nation since 2002. The deal required the head of the UN mission to sign off on election results.
(AFP, 4/11/07)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.60)
2007 Apr 11, Japanese and Chinese leaders heralded a new era of closer ties between the two Asian powers, moving to repair relations damaged by a harsh dispute over history and signing accords on energy and environmental protection.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Kyrgyzstan thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the main square of Bishkek to press President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign. Bakiyev had sought to head off the opposition protest by signing constitutional amendments curtailing his power a day earlier, but the opposition rejected his move and showed up in full force.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, A Mexican court ordered the reinstatement of ousted mineworkers’ union leader Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, more than a year after the government turned him out of office based on complaints of corruption.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Morocco presented its plan to grant self-rule to the disputed Western Sahara territory to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Nigeria 5 people, including a senior police officer, were killed in clashes between rival cult gangs in the southern oil-rich state of Rivers.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 11, North Korea replaced its prime minister during a session of its rubber-stamp parliament. US envoys entered South Korea from North Korea in a rare border crossing after securing the remains of six American soldiers from the Korean War and pushing for action on the North's nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, More than 50 Philippine military officers pleaded guilty to violating military order and discipline in a plea bargain, escaping lengthy jail terms for a failed mutiny in Manila nearly four years ago.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and its partners ceded a controlling stake in the Sakhalin-2 gas project to Russia’s state owned OAO Gazprom. The deal also entitled Gazprom a percentage of profits from oil and gas and increased managerial control.
(WSJ, 4/26/07, p.A3)(http://tinyurl.com/39c2yh)
2007 Apr 11, In Somalia Ethiopian-backed government troops and Islamic insurgents exchanged gunfire in northern Mogadishu, killing three people and ending more than a week of relative calm.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 11, At least 40 civilians were killed and 25 wounded in an attack believed to have be carried out by the Janjaweed militia in the war-torn Darfur region.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 12, The new US “forever" postage stamp was scheduled to go on sale. The cost for first class mail was set to rise to 41 cents on May 14.
(SFC, 4/11/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 12, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz acknowledged that he erred in helping a close female friend get transferred to a high-paying job. "I made a mistake for which I am sorry," he said.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, CBS fired Don Imus from his radio program for insulting the Rutgers women's basketball team on the air. In the evening, Imus met with team members at the New Jersey governor's mansion in Princeton.
(AP, 4/12/08)
2007 Apr 12, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine was involved in an SUV crash as he headed to a meeting between radio show host Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team. The crash occurred when the SUV, driven by a state trooper, was hit by another vehicle that swerved to avoid the pickup truck. Corzine was not wearing his seat belt, as required by law, and the crash left him with such serious injuries that he required a ventilator.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 12, In NYC transit officials and politicians broke ground on the Second Avenue line in East Harlem.
(Econ, 4/21/07, p.34)(www.mta.info/mta/news/releases07/index.html?en=070412)
2007 Apr 12, Muzak announced plans to merge with rival DMX. The company was moving in the direction of sensory branding and identifying songs that suit particular companies.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.74)
2007 Apr 12, A study said scientists have decoded the genome sequence of rhesus monkeys proving they share 93% of man's genetic make-up.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Kelsie B. Harder, onomastician (a student of names and their origins), died in Potsdam, NY. His books included “Illustrated Dictionary of Place Names" (1976),
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 12, In southern Afghanistan a US-led coalition and Afghan troops backed by aircraft clashed with suspected Taliban fighters, leaving more than 35 militants dead. Roadside bombs struck two NATO convoys in the east, killing two soldiers. US and Afghan troops rescued five civilian contractors pinned down by small arms fire from insurgents in central Afghanistan after their helicopter made an emergency landing. A coalition aircraft attacked the militants, killing three. The contractors were evacuated to a nearby coalition base.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Brazilian police broke up a gang accused of killing hundreds of people over several years, arresting 18 suspects and searching for 10 others. The gang, made up of police officers, hired guns and businessmen, had carried out up to 200 killings a year over the past five years, most of them linked to loan sharking.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In London the Beatles' Apple Corps company settled a royalties dispute with record label EMI, raising hopes that Beatles recordings may soon be legally available online.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Cali to protest the bombing of the city's police barracks, blamed on Colombia's largest leftist rebel group.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, India test-fired a new missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a 1,900-mile range. Indonesia said the missile forced 2 of its jetliners off course.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria in the deadliest-ever attack in the American-guarded Green Zone. Mohammed Awad, a moderate Sunni lawmaker, was killed in the attack and 22 were wounded. The next day an insurgent umbrella group that includes al-Qaida in Iraq claimed one of its "knights" carried out the parliament suicide bombing. 11 civilians were killed in a bombing of Baghdad’s al-Sarafiya bridge. 7 were killed by a powerful suicide truck bomb, and 4 perished when their cars plummeted into the river. The bodies of radio newscaster and her husband were found in Mosul, three days after being kidnapped by gunmen.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Toyota named the first non-Japanese to its board of directors, appointing American James Press, the automaker's president of North American operations, amid growing fears of a political backlash for its booming US sales.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Mexican President Felipe Calderon signed a law eliminating prison sentences for libel or defamation, drawing praise from media watchdog groups.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Morocco’s police detained two men near the scene of three suicide bombings in Casablanca, and a police official said one was carrying explosives.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, An international conservation group tens of thousands of villagers could be displaced and a fragile ecosystem destroyed by a hydropower project being built on northeastern Myanmar's Salween River.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Norwegian oil rig support vessel carrying 15 people capsized off northern Scotland and five crew members were missing.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that tribesmen have killed about 300 foreign militants during a weekslong offensive near the Afghan border and acknowledged for first time that they received military support. Gunfights erupted again in villages near the Afghan border where clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims have killed at least 49 people over the past week.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Polish officials said Google plans to open an operations center in Wroclaw later this year, creating 200 new jobs and boosting the city's efforts to become a technology hub.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Russian authorities said they have halted the work of all foreign adoption agencies for several months, virtually shutting down the placement of children from one of the most important countries for US families seeking to adopt.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, The Swiss-based Nestle SA, the world's biggest food and drink company, said it will buy Gerber Products Co. from pharmaceutical maker Novartis SA for $5.5 billion, giving it the largest share of the global baby food market.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, A Syrian-American businessman with ties to the Damascus government made an unprecedented appearance before an Israeli parliamentary panel, telling lawmakers that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to make peace with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 12, Thailand police said the king has pardoned a Swiss man who was given a 10-year sentence for spray-painting over images of the revered monarch, but the longtime Thailand resident has been ordered to leave the country.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, Turkey's army chief said the military had launched several "large scale" offensives against rebels in the predominantly Kurdish southeast, and he asked the government for approval to launch an incursion into neighboring northern Iraq.
(AP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 12, In Uganda protesters stoned to death two people of Asian origin during a demonstration against a Ugandan-Indian company that wants to grow sugar cane in this country's largest natural forest. Two others were also killed in the rioting.
(AP, 4/12/07)(WSJ, 4/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 12, Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai expressed optimism about planned talks between his party and President Robert Mugabe's government to end the crisis in the country.
(AFP, 4/12/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Delaware a special committee of the board of directors of Computer Associates accused founder and former chairman Charles Wang of directing and participating in fraudulent accounting during the 1980s and 1990s, which the US government had described as totaling $2.2 billion.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 13, Google said that it will purchase DoubleClick, an Internet services company, for $3.1 billion. This transformed Google into an powerhouse across the entire digital advertising industry.
(WSJ, 4/14/07, p.A3)(SFC, 10/5/20, p.C1)
2007 Apr 13, In NYC lawyer Moshe Kanovsky (31) leaped to his death from the 69th floor of the Empire State Building. At least 30 people have jumped from the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 13, In SF Mayor Newsom brokered an agreement to ban cars from Golden Gate Park’s main road for 6 months of the year and to make permanent a Sunday ban for a smaller area. The deal still required approval from the board of Supervisors.
(SFC, 4/14/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 13, A firefight in southern Afghanistan killed one NATO soldier and wounded two others. Eight suspected insurgents were killed by British forces west of Basra. The suspects had been planting bombs in the path of a British patrol.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Australia’s PM John Howard said that people with HIV should not be allowed to migrate to Australia, and that the government was investigating whether it could tighten existing restrictions.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, An Austrian bank recently bought by a US-led consortium acknowledged it told a Cuban-born client to take her business elsewhere and suggested that Washington's ban on commerce with Cuba was behind the decision.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Federal police in Brazil arrested the chief organizer of Rio's carnival parade, a federal judge and a prosecutor in a crack-down on illegal gaming and money laundering.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A leading rebel in the Central African Republic said he would be signing a peace deal with President Francois Bozize in the northeastern town of Birao.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Prominent Chinese environmental activist Wu Lihong (39) was arrested for alleged blackmail. Lihong has campaigned for years against the pollution of Tai Lake which lies in the center of Yangtze Delta plain, a region known for its natural beauty but littered with polluting light industry and chemical factories. In August Lihong was sentenced to 3 years in prison for fraud and blackmail.
(AFP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.49)
2007 Apr 13, Iraq's parliament met in an extraordinary session on a Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, and declared it would not bow to terrorism; a bouquet of red roses and a white lily sat in the place of a lawmaker killed in a parliament dining hall suicide bombing. A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded four others in southern Baghdad. US forces captured 14 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq members in raids.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 4/13/08)
2007 Apr 13, In Malaysia the Negeri Sembilan state government closed down a museum exhibition on ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings after Islamic clerics claimed it was detrimental to Muslims' faith.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Nigeria gunmen shot dead a radical Muslim cleric in his mosque and fired on the congregation, killing two more people, in the northern city of Kano.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Protesters burned an effigy of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and demanded his resignation, as thousands rallied across Pakistan during a court hearing for a top judge removed by the government.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Five European countries and the European Commission signed an accord on under which they will give 5.2 million dollars for administrative reforms within the Palestinian presidency.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Former President Alejandro Toledo returned to Peru to visit his ailing sister and face accusations that he forged signatures nearly a decade ago to get his party on the 2000 presidential ballot.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, Muslim rebels fired mortar bombs on a Philippines marine base in the southern island of Jolo, killing two soldiers and a child.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon who has emerged as one of the Kremlin's most vocal opponents, called for the use of force to oust President Vladimir Putin and claimed he has support from some in the country's political elite. In response, Russia's chief prosecutor opened a criminal case against Berezovsky on charges of plotting a coup. Britain, granted Berezovsky refugee status in 2003.
(AP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Tanzania the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered that Michel Bagaragaza, the former head of Rwanda's national tea industry, be tried by a court in the Netherlands. He was accused of involvement in Rwanda’s 1994 mass slaughter. In Sep, 2009, Bagaragaza (64) pleaded guilty to complicity in the slaughter. In Nov he was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
(AFP, 4/13/07)(AP, 9/17/09)(AP, 11/5/09)
2007 Apr 13, African health ministers meeting in South Africa adopted a health strategy to deal with the host of diseases on the continent, a dearth of health workers and failing health systems.
(AFP, 4/13/07)
2007 Apr 13, A landmine killed nine Sudanese army soldiers and wounded 11 on Sudan's eastern border with Ethiopia.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 13, Benedict XVI published “Jesus of Nazareth," his first book as pope. It offered a very personal meditation on the early years of Christ's life and teachings criticized the "cruelty" of capitalism and colonialism and the power of the wealthy over the poor. A second installment, released in 2011, concerned the final part of Christ's life, his death and resurrection.
(AP, 4/13/07)(AP, 3/2/11)
2007 Apr 14, The Morongo Indian reservation in southern California and its 775 adult members reportedly received seven-tenths of their casino’s profits which amounted to roughly $15,000 to $20,000 per person, per month. In 1989 the tribe’s average, annual household income was $13,000.
(Econ, 4/14/07, p.29)
2007 Apr 14, Legendary crooner Don Ho (76) died in Hawaii. He had entertained tourists for decades wearing raspberry-tinted sunglasses and singing his signature tune "Tiny Bubbles."
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide bomber blew himself up next to several Afghan border policemen, leaving at least seven officers dead and six others wounded. 3 suspected militants carrying explosives on their bodies were killed when their bombs went off just outside the southern city of Ghazni. Also in Ghazni, two Afghan army soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the province's Ander district.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Thousands of landless workers invaded government property in Brazil's arid northeast to try to stop a controversial river-diversion project. About 7,500 people invaded plots of government-owned land near Petrolina, 1,360 miles north of Sao Paulo in Pernambuco state.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 14, The population of Brazil numbered about 188 million people.
(Econ, 4/14/07, SR p.3)
2007 Apr 14, June Callwood (82), often described as Canada's social conscience, died.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A Chinese rocket placed a navigation satellite in orbit as part of an effort to build a global positioning system.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, The Egyptian state news agency MENA said that Neo-Nazis had attacked an Egyptian diplomat in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian government has said it deeply regrets the incident.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A video showing a German army instructor telling one of his soldiers to envision African-Americans in the Bronx while firing his machine gun was broadcast on national television. The Defense Ministry said the video was shot in July 2006 at barracks in the northern town of Rendsburg and that the army has been aware of it since January.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, A car bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines, killing 47 people and over 200 wounded. The bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. At least 16 children were among the dead. A suicide car bomb killed 10 people on Jadriyah bridge in downtown Baghdad, the second attack on a span over the Tigris river this week. 4 would-be suicide attackers were killed in Kirkuk when one of them detonated his explosives belt prematurely. 3 civilians and a policeman were killed in drive-by shootings in Fallujah and Hillah. American troops captured 17 suspected insurgents, including an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq member, during raids. Two US soldiers were killed.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Mexico a speeding bus crashed into a tractor-trailer outside the border city of Ciudad Juarez, killing 28 people and injuring 11 others.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Morocco 2 brothers strapped with explosives blew themselves up near the US consulate. Moroccan officials said they had discovered a broader suicide bombing conspiracy.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Voters went to the polls in Nigeria to choose their state officers in the first of a pair of elections meant to solidify civilian rule. PDP gunmen beat up opponents, snatched ballot boxes and stuffed them with pre-marked ballots. Gunmen killed seven policemen in raids on two police stations in Port Harcourt. Some later judged the polls to be the most rigged in the country’s history.
(AP, 4/14/07)(AFP, 4/14/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.56)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.12)
2007 Apr 14, North Korea missed a deadline for shutting down its main nuclear reactor, and a key US negotiator said the country must keep the disarmament program from foundering.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Russian police detained Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion and leader of one of Russia's strongest opposition movements, and at least 100 other activists as they gathered for a forbidden anti-Kremlin demonstration in central Moscow.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead five people in eastern Sri Lanka, as the country marked the traditional New Year and the president appealed for national unity.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, In Sudan unidentified gunmen killed a Ghanaian military officer in the African Union's peacekeeping force in the Darfur region and hijacked his car within yards of the AU mission's headquarters. The dead officer was the ninth peacekeeper slain this month, raising to 18 the number of AU soldiers killed since the mission deployed in 2004.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, Syria distanced itself from comments by a Syrian-American businessman who recently told Israeli lawmakers that President Bashar Assad was ready to make peace with the Jewish state.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Flash floods swept over two waterfalls on a southern Thai mountain packed with picnickers and swimmers celebrating the country's New Year, killing at least 35 people and leaving dozens more missing.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 14, More than 200,000 Turks protested against Turkey's Islamic-rooted PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demonstrating the intense opposition he could face from Turkey's secular establishment if he decides to run for president next month. A bus full of second-graders crashed into a truck in central Turkey, killing at least 32 people, most of them children.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 14, Uganda's government and a rebel group responsible for one of Africa's longest and most brutal wars signed a new truce and agreed to resume stalled peace talks later this month. Joseph Kony, The elusive leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, witnessed the signing in Ri-Kwangba, Sudan.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Airlines canceled over 400 flights in the NYC area as a hard-blowing nor'easter gathered strength along the East Coast. The storm out of the Great Plains was already blamed for 5 deaths.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A4)
2007 Apr 15, Researchers reported that cells that are supposed to nourish and support other nerve cells instead secrete the poisons that cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Scientists unveiled the world’s tiniest eyedropper, capable of squeezing out zeptoliter droplets.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A9)
2007 Apr 15, A fire in Quincy, Illinois, killed 5 children. Police arrested Zachary Meeks (27), a cousin who had a grudge with the victim’s parents stemming from a drug-related prison sentence.
(SFC, 4/16/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 15, Brant Parker (86), collaborator with Johnny Hart on the “Wizard of Id" (1964) cartoon strip, died in Lynchburg, Va. In 1997 Parker handed the illustration of the cartoon over to his son, Jeff Parker.
(SFC, 4/9/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 15, Afghanistan's government promised to end all hostage deals with the Taliban after two Afghan kidnap victims were executed in an agreement to free an Italian journalist. In southern Afghanistan a suicide bomber targeted a private US security firm, killing up to four Afghans working for the company and wounding another. In Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents left 15 militants dead and 15 wounded. Police and US-led coalition forces attacked suspected Taliban insurgents crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan, killing 10 militants and wounding 15.
(AFP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Authorities in Bangladesh arrested a second son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, as the military-backed interim government stepped up its anti-corruption drive. Arafat Rahman (36) was released the next day.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Belgium 2 men hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in a prison courtyard, where they picked up an inmate in a dramatic jailbreak. RTL-TVI identified the fugitive as a Frenchman who was in pretrial detention on charges of fraud and theft.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Blind British aviator Miles Hilton-Barber, With the aid of co-copilot Richard Meredith-Hardy, landed his microlight aircraft in Jakarta to complete another leg of his London-Sydney charity flight.
(AFP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Ecuadoreans voted on whether to create a special assembly to rewrite their constitution. Exit polls said voters overwhelmingly supported Pres. Correa's plan to remake the nation's system of government and weaken its discredited Congress.
(AP, 4/15/07)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Iran said it is seeking bids for the building of two more nuclear power plants, despite international pressures to curb its controversial program.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Four bombs exploded in predominantly Shiite sections of Baghdad, killing at least 37 people in a renewal of sectarian carnage. Many women and children were among the casualties. North of Baghdad, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members. The number of bodies found dumped in Baghdad increased sharply to 30. The number of detainees held in US-run facilities in Iraq reached 18,000, with an average stay of one year.
(AP, 4/15/07)(SSFC, 4/15/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Israeli and Palestinian leaders discussed the outlines of Palestinian statehood for the first time in six years, taking a modest step toward breaking the long paralysis in peacemaking.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, A 14-year-old matador who left Spain to escape his home country's ban on young bullfighters was nearly gored to death in a Mexican City ring, his lung punctured by a 900-pound bull.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Nigeria's mass daily newspapers reported that dozens of people died during state elections, as results began to emerge from state elections that were marred by rigging and violence.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Pakistan some 100,000 people rallied in Karachi against a radical Islamic mosque and seminary that launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in Islamabad last week.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 15, Three explosions hit Gaza City, damaging two Internet cafes and a Christian bookstore. Palestinian security officials have said they suspect a secret "vice squad" of Muslim militants.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Philippine marines killed at least 8 Muslim rebels and captured two of their camps in retaliation for a series of attacks that killed a child and two soldiers.
(AP, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, Russia launched its first new generation nuclear submarine since the fall of the Soviet Union, as the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike force. Russia began construction of its first floating nuclear power plant, and planned to build at least six more despite long-standing environmental concerns that they are vulnerable to accidents at sea. In St. Petersburg, Russia, club-swinging riot police clashed with opposition supporters as an anti-Kremlin protest dispersed. Police chased small groups of demonstrators, beating some on the ground and hauling them into police buses.
(AP, 4/15/07)(Reuters, 4/15/07)
2007 Apr 15, In Russia a keel-laying ceremony was held in Severodvinsk, on the White Sea, for the new 460-foot Mikhail Lomonosov, a $360 million demonstration ship capable of providing 76-megawatts of nuclear power to an onshore location. Completion was expected in 2010 with construction of new ships to start annually.
(WSJ, 8/21/07, p.A13)
2007 Apr 15, The official Saudi news agency reported that Sudan has signed a joint agreement with the UN and the African Union that defines their respective roles in Darfur.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Carrie Underwood's dark hit "Before He Cheats" won video of the year, female video and best video director at the fan-voted CMT Music Awards.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2007 Apr 16, Shootings in a dorm and classroom at Virginia Tech left 32 people dead. Two people died in a dorm room, and 31 others were killed in Norris Hall, including the gunman, who put a bullet in his head. At least 15 people were hurt, some seriously. Two professors from India and Israel were among the dead at the Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest in US history. The gunman was a South Korean national named Seung-Hui Cho (23). Cho was an undergraduate student in his senior year majoring in English who lived on campus. His residence was in Centerville, Virginia, and he had resident alien status. Between shootings Seung-Hui took time to e-mail videos, photos and writings to NBC. Virginia law allowed Cho to buy one gun each month. In 2009 Lucinda Roy, head of English at Virginia Tech, authored “No Right To Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech."
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/17/07)(WSJ, 4/19/07, p.A1)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.27)(Econ, 4/11/09, p.32)
2007 Apr 16, The board overseeing operations at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport ruled that taxi drivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol face tougher penalties despite protests from Muslim cabbies who sought a compromise for religious reasons.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya won his 3rd Boston Marathon in 2:14:13. Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva won in 2:29:18.
(WSJ, 4/17/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 16, A consortium of financial companies agreed to acquire Sallie Mae, America’s leading provider of student loans and administrator of college savings plans, for $25 billion. In a recent settlement Sallie Mae agree to adopt a code of conduct and to pay $2 million into a fund to educate students about loans.
(SFC, 4/17/07, p.B1)(Econ, 4/14/07, p.86)
2007 Apr 16, In northern Afghanistan a suicide bomber ran onto a police training field in Kunduz and blew himself up, killing up to 10 policemen and wounding dozens of others.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Hassan Hattab, the founder of the group that claimed responsibility for last week's deadly Algiers bombings, called on militants to put down their weapons under a government amnesty and stop trying to turn Algeria into a "second Iraq." Hattab made the comments in a published letter to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Indians from across Brazil pitched black plastic tents in front of government buildings to demand that officials discuss with them infrastructure projects they claim could have a negative impact on their ancestral lands.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Thousands of BBC staff across Britain held a silent vigil to remember its kidnapped Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston after a Palestinian group said it had killed him. Johnston was snatched at gunpoint on March 12 as he returned to his Gaza City home. Johnston was not killed and was freed on July 4.
(AFP, 4/16/07)(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Apr 16, Scientists reported that Britain once had around 25 native species of bumblebee, but three of those have been wiped out in the past 50 years and 10 more are now severely threatened.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In southwest China about 450 people, including 135 school students, were hospitalized after a fertilizer plant discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide. A state-run newspaper said China's massive Yangtze river, a lifeline for tens of millions of people, is seriously polluted and the damage is almost irreversible.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 16, A top rebel leader of Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group (ELN) said the group is ready to "immediately" begin talks to reach a cease-fire with the country's government.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Most of Cuba's leading opposition groups issued a joint statement declaring they were united in their struggle for peaceful change toward democracy on the island.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, The staff of an Indian news channel in Mumbai was attacked and its offices ransacked by dozens of Hindu protestors after it broadcast an interview with a runaway couple, a teenage Hindu girl and a young Muslim man. In southern India a passenger train crashed into a minibus carrying local council officials at an unmanned rail crossing, killing 11 people and injuring another 12 in the vehicle.
(AP, 4/16/07)(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, In Iran 2 Swedish construction workers, who had been convicted of espionage and imprisoned for taking photographs of military installations, were released after being pardoned.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Six Iraqi cabinet ministers loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resigned to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for an American withdrawal. In Mosul a university dean, a professor, a policeman's son and 13 soldiers died near there in attacks that bore the marks of al-Qaida. In Ramadi US forces mistakenly killed three Iraqi police officers during a raid targeting al-Qaida in Iraq members. Thousands of Iraqis upset about poor city services marched peacefully through the streets of Basra, demanding the provincial governor's resignation. Nationwide, at least 51 people were killed or found dead. 3 US soldiers and two Marines were killed. One Marine died in a "non-hostile incident" while on patrol in western Anbar province.
(AP, 4/16/07)(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Four Iraqi men were blindfolded, shot in the head and dumped in a Baghdad canal. In 2008 the US Army charged 7 soldiers assigned to 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, for their role in the alleged retribution killings. In August the Army held Article 32 hearings investigating the involvement of Staff Sgt. Jess Cunningham and Sgt. Charles Quigley in the incident. They have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder. In September, 2008, Spc. Belmor Ramos (23), of Clearfield, Utah, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to seven months in prison and given a dishonorable discharge. Spc. Steven Ribordy (25) of Salina, Kansas, pleaded guilty on Oct 1, 2008, to charges of accessory to murder and was sentenced to eight months in prison. In 2008 Sgt. Michael P. Leahy Jr. (26) was court-martialed on charges of murder in the killings. Two remaining soldiers said to be involved in the incident, Sgt. John E. Hatley (40) and Sgt. 1st Class Joseph P. Mayo (27) faced charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice. On Feb 20, 2009, Leahy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In March 2009 Sgt. Mayo pleaded guilty to charges of premeditated murder and conspiracy and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. On April 15, 2009, John Hatley was convicted of murder. He was sentenced the next day to life in prison with the possibility of parole. In August the army reduced Hatley’s sentence to 40 years; the sentences against Leahy and Mayo were reduced to 20 years.
(AP, 9/17/08)(AP, 9/18/08)(AP, 10/2/08)(AP, 11/12/08)(AP, 1/13/09)(AP, 2/20/09)(AP, 3/30/09)(AP, 4/16/09)(AP, 8/14/09)
2007 Apr 16, Five young Japanese were found dead inside a sealed van in an apparent group suicide.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A quarter of the 1.5 million women in Mauritania a barren, dune-enveloped country more than twice the size of Texas, are obese, according to the World Health Organization. That's lower than the 40 percent of American women who the WHO says are obese, but surprisingly high in a country that has not a single fast-food franchise. Obesity is popular across much of the Arab world. Nomadic peoples struggling to survive the harsh desert came to prize fatness as a sign of health.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Police found 17 bodies stuffed in cars or dumped on streets in garbage bags across Mexico in the latest wave of violence apparently triggered by warring drug gangs.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nepal's Maoists demanded that the country immediately scrap the monarchy and declare itself a republic amid probable delays in an election over the issue.
(AFP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nicaraguan police announced the arrest of more than two dozen local members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel but said they were still seeking the group's leader.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Nigeria's Supreme Court ruled that the country's electoral commission unlawfully disqualified a top opposition politician once allied with the president from running to replace his former mentor.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, A World Bank study said that Palestinian industry is "bound to fail" unless Israel lifts tight restrictions on trade and movement of people and goods in the Palestinian territories. , The Palestinian information minister said China and Switzerland said they will deal with the new Palestinian unity government made up of the moderate Fatah movement and the Islamic militant Hamas group.
(AP, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 16, Foreign Minister Lam Akol said Sudan will accept UN attack helicopters in its Darfur region as part of a support package for the African Union force struggling to maintain peace in its vast west. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said the janjaweed militia, accused of widespread atrocities in Darfur, is actively supported by the Sudanese government.
(Reuters, 4/16/07)
2007 Apr 17, A new survey said US household with a net worth of $5 million, excluding primary home, totaled one million in 2006, up from 250,000 in 1996.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, In Maryland a wall collapsed at the Tri-Star Mining open pit coal mine near Barton. 2 miners were killed.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 17, Kitty Carlisle Hart (b.1910), stage and film singer and actress, died in New York.
(AP, 4/17/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Carlisle_Hart)
2007 Apr 17, US Marine Gen. Peter Pace said US-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons that were being shipped to Taliban fighters. A roadside bomb hit a United Nations vehicle in southern Afghanistan's main city, killing four Nepalese guards and an Afghan driver. An old artillery shell exploded outside a school compound in the western city of Herat, killing four children and wounding five others. Afghan troops searched a compound and discovered 18 rocket propelled grenades and 27 AK-47 weapons. The compound's guard later confessed that he commanded more than 100 Taliban fighters.
(AP, 4/17/07)(SFC, 4/18/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 17, Argentina said will not send former junta leader Jorge Videla to Germany to face charges in the March, 1977, abduction and murder of activist Elisabeth Kaesemann, a German woman, during the Dirty War. Her bullet-riddled body was later found dumped on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Australian officials said that the US and Australia signed an agreement last week to exchange a few hundred refugees held at island detention camps in an effort by both governments to discourage future asylum seekers.
(Reuters, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Brazil shootouts involving drug gangs and police in Rio left at least 20 alleged gang members dead.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, The British pound broke through the $2 mark for the first time in nearly 15 years after new data showed an unexpected surge in inflation, prompting speculation of interest rate increases.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Canada’s Parliament passed a law that will force striking workers at Canadian National Railway to return to the job.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, In China state media said Ablikim Abdureyim, the son of a prominent US-based Chinese Muslim activist, was sentenced in Urumqi, capital of the Muslim Xinjiang region, to nine years in prison on subversion charges. Abdureyim's mother, Rebiya Kadeer, once was one of China's most prominent businesswomen. She was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 8 years in prison on charges of endangering state security but was allowed to leave for the United States in 2005.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Egypt launched EgyptSat 1, its first remote sounding satellite, from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft was jointly developed by Egypt's National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences and the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Ukraine. Israeli officials suspected it to be a spy satellite. In 2010 ground-controllers lost it.
(http://claudelafleur.qc.ca/Spacecrafts-2007.html)(Econ, 10/30/10, p.50)
2007 Apr 17, Guinea-Bissau's new PM Martinho Ndafa Cabi announced an opposition-dominated government after being chosen to lead the poor west African nation following a political crisis.
(AFP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Malaki said his government was talking with militant groups to try to stop the violence. Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, a top insurgent leader, boasted that his al-Qaida-linked group was now making its own rockets, posting the claim in an audiotape online. Al-Baghdadi's group posted a Web statement saying its religious court had condemned 20 kidnapped Iraqi soldiers to death. The deputy chief of Mosul police was killed in a drive-by shooting along with two of his guards. In Ramadi police uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards. More than 100 bodies turned up across Iraq.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 17, Israel's Shin Bet security agency said that it has broken up an Iranian plot to recruit Israelis of Iranian origin as spies, part of what it says is a burgeoning Iranian intelligence operation against the Jewish state. Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian militant near Jenin. Four Israelis were shot and wounded as they were driving near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Naaleh.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 17, In Rome a US soldier went on trial in absentia for the shooting death of Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari at an Iraqi checkpoint in March 2005. However, a court later threw out the proceedings against Spc. Mario Lozano, saying Italy had no jurisdiction.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2007 Apr 17, In Japan the mayor of Nagasaki was shot outside a train station and is in critical condition. Police arrested Tetsuya Shiroo (59), who they said was the head of a local gang affiliated with Japan's largest "yakuza" group, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Mayor Itcho Ito (61) died the next day. The gangster arrested in the shooting had visited city offices more than 30 times seeking compensation for car damage caused by a pothole. In 2008 Shiroo was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder.
(AP, 4/17/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 5/26/08)
2007 Apr 17, Nigeria's electoral commission said it would comply with a Supreme Court ruling that the vice president be placed on the ballot for this weekend's presidential elections, as sporadic violence was reported around the country. 18 Nigerian opposition parties threatened to boycott the presidential and legislative elections if the April 14 regional polls were not cancelled. 12 Nigerian police were killed when an unknown armed group stormed their station in the northern city of Kano.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, Pakistan executed four brothers convicted of killing 13 of their relatives in a feud over land. A video began circulating showing the grisly death of Ghulam Nabi, a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taliban official who was killed in a December airstrike in Afghanistan. The video showed a boy about 12 hacking off the head of Nabi.
(AP, 4/17/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 17, Sri Lankan authorities have issued a death threat against Champika Liyanaarachchi, a newspaper editor for reporting on military excesses and human rights abuses.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 17, State radio said Zimbabwe has deregistered all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and told them to submit new applications to try to weed out groups it says are trying to oust President Robert Mugabe.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Apr 18, The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upheld the 2003 nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure known as dilation and extraction, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench.
(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.34)
2007 Apr 18, The DJIA rose 30.80 to a record 12,803.84. Nasdaq fell 6.45 to 2,510.
(SFC, 4/19/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 4/19/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 18, US research found that Ethanol-fueled vehicles could contribute to more illnesses and deaths from respiratory disease than gasoline-powered cars and trucks.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, More than 100 journalists protested a police raid ordered by Afghanistan's attorney general on a private TV station that has fueled concern over growing government harassment of the media. Afghan and US-led coalition forces clashed with Taliban fighters and called in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan, leaving 24 suspected militants dead and two coalition soldiers wounded. Three other suspected militants were reported killed in the western provinces. In eastern Afghanistan coalition and Afghan forces arrested five suspected al-Qaida. A US-led coalition convoy hit a boy in Kabul and killed him.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, A catamaran was discovered deserted off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef with the sails up, engine running and food on the table. Its crew of 3 was last seen April 15.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 18, Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government exiled opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as it stepped up a massive purge of the crisis-wracked country's political hierarchy.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, The British Foreign Office expressed disappointment and disagreement with a National Union of Journalists vote to call for a boycott on Israeli goods.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, A report said Britain has the worst level of drug abuse in Europe, and the second highest level of drug-related deaths.
(AFP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda adopted a joint military strategy to fight rebel groups operating in the war-scarred Great Lakes region.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, The futuristic No. D460 bullet train departed Shanghai Station, heralding a new era of high-speed rail travel in China. In northeast China at least 32 workers were killed and two injured when they were engulfed in white-hot molten steel in a metal factory.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/18/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.70)
2007 Apr 18, In Colombia thousands of people were evacuated after a long-dormant volcano erupted, provoking avalanches and floods that swept away houses and bridges. The Nevado del Huila volcano's eruptions were its first on record since Colombia was colonized by the Spanish 500 years ago.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, At least 16 Egyptian secondary school students were killed on their way to school when a truck they were riding in collided head-on with another vehicle south of Cairo.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Ultrasound machines in India, primarily sold by GE, were reported to be linked to a declining sex ratio, even though laws forbade doctors from disclosing the sex of fetuses. Female fetuses were widely aborted due to high dowry costs.
(WSJ, 4/18/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 18, Iraq’s Pres. Maliki declared that Iraqi forces would take over security of the entire country by the end of this year. A few hours later a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing some 140 people and wounding 148 including men who were rebuilding the market after a Feb. 3 bombing left 137 dead. A suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City killing at least 30 people, including five Iraqi security officers. A parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13. A fourth explosion from a bomb left on a minibus in the northwestern Risafi area, killed four people and wounded six others. 4 policemen were killed when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center. US troops killed five suspected insurgents and captured 30 others in a raid in Anbar province. A suspected insurgent was killed and eight captured in two raids north of Baghdad. More than 230 people died in one of the war's deadliest episodes of violence. Britain turned Maysan province over to Iraqi rule.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)(SFC, 4/19/07, p.A10)(Econ, 4/21/07, p.54)
2007 Apr 18, Mexican police and soldiers battled gunmen at a hospital in Tijuana in violence that left at least three people dead before the authorities subdued the attackers. Authorities said next day that the gunmen were hit men for the city's Arellano Felix drug cartel.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 18, Scientists in the Netherlands said they have discovered a fungus in elephant dung that will help them break down fibers and wood into biofuel.
(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Nigeria's government rejected an opposition call to postpone the presidential election following widespread abuses in state polls last weekend. Nigerian soldiers killed at least 25 Islamic militants, in the second day of violent clashes in Kano.
(AFP, 4/18/07)(Reuters, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, Russian police raided Educated Media Foundation, an independent Russian organization. Police said the search was linked to a criminal case launched against the director after she failed to declare some $12,500 in cash she brought into the country on January 21. Foundation President Manana Aslamazyan said this was likely linked to growing government pressure on Western-funded NGOs. Aslamazyan fled to Paris and authorities shuttered the foundation.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/24/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 18, In Somalia overnight street battles in Mogadishu left at least 11 people dead and dozens others injured.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 18, In central Turkey assailants in Malatya tied up three people at a publishing house that distributes Bibles and then slit their throats. Tilmann Geske (46), a German missionary, and two Turkish Christians were killed. Five young men were detained and charged with murder; they allegedly said they killed to protect Islam.
(AP, 4/18/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 18, The UN Security Council expressed "serious concern" at mounting reports of weapons being smuggled from Syria to Lebanon and authorized an independent mission to evaluate monitoring of the border between the two countries.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 19, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid offered a bleak assessment of Iraq, saying the war was "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, One-time CEO Joe Nacchio was found guilty of illegally selling $52 million in stock amid an accounting scandal that nearly sank Qwest Communications. The jury acquitted Nacchio of all 23 insider trading counts involving sales before April 2001 but convicted him on 19 counts tied to sales of 1.33 million shares for $52 million in gross proceeds from April 26 to May 29, 2001.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Luis Posada Carriles (79), an anti-Castro exile wanted in Cuba for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, was freed from a New Mexico jail after he posted $250,000 bond and his family put up another $100,000. He must wear an electronic monitoring device while under house arrest at his wife's home in Miami pending his May 11 trial on immigration fraud charges. Posada's immigration case was later thrown out by a federal judge, but the government appealed.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, A Brooklyn jury convicted Gerald Garson, a former matrimonial court judge, of taking bribes. His arrest in 2003 prompted investigations into judicial corruption.
(www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/04/20/judge.cigar.ap/index.html)
2007 Apr 19, A jury in Selmer, Tenn., convicted Mary Winkler of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her preacher-husband, Matthew. Winkler spent seven months in custody, with two months served in a mental facility.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2007 Apr 19, The DJIA rose 4.79 to a record 12,808.63. Nasdaq fell 5.15 to 2,505.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 19, Helen Robson Walton (b.1919), widow of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, died in Bentonville, Ark. She had pushed for a profit-sharing plan for employees in the Wal-Mart’s early days and demanded that the family live in a small, rural town.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 19, British aerospace engine maker Rolls-Royce said that it will withdraw from Sudan, citing "increasing international humanitarian concerns" in the violence-scarred region of Darfur.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, China jailed Huseyin Celil (37), a Uighur-Canadian, for life for separatism and terrorism and warned Canada not to get involved even as Ottawa announced it would send its foreign minister to discuss the case. Celil was detained in Uzbekistan in March 2006 when he was visiting relatives and sent to China last June.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Cuba the Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the Apr 13 arrest and sentencing of Oscar Sanchez Madan (44), an independent Cuban journalist, who wrote critical articles about dissident groups and the hardships of island life.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, European Union members agreed to new rules to combat racism and hate crimes across the 27-nation bloc, including setting jail sentences against those who deny or trivialize the Holocaust.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Former Rwandan army major Bernard Ntuyahaga went on trial in Brussels, charged with the murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and the Rwandan prime minister in 1994.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Iranian engineers began filling a new dam as archaeologists warned that its reservoir will flood newly discovered antiquities and could damage Iran's grandest site, the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sunni insurgent coalition posted Web videos naming the head of al-Qaida in Iraq as "minister of war" and showing the execution of 20 men it said were members of the Iraqi military and security forces. A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence, killing at least 12 people and wounded 34 in a mostly Shiite district. A US Marine in a rocket attack on a base south of Baghdad.
(AP, 4/19/07)(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, Israeli Knesset speaker Dalia Yitzik arrived in Jordan, the second Israeli official to visit the Arab kingdom this week for talks on ways to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Kyrgyzstan police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of opposition protesters who had marched to the president's office in Bishkek to demand his resignation.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi took over from a military junta as Mauritania's civilian head of state.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, North and South Korea formally opened economic aid talks, after a delay caused by Pyongyang's insistence that Seoul pledge food assistance to the impoverished nation despite its failure to live up to a pact on nuclear disarmament.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Chanting "down with Talibanization," hundreds of human rights activists marched through Pakistani cities, urging the government to rein in clerics who have launched an anti-vice campaign in the capital.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, The heads of seven men who were kidnapped by Muslim extremists on a volatile southern island were delivered to a Philippine army detachment. The men, six road project workers and a dried-fish factory worker, were kidnapped at gunpoint in two separate incidents April 16 near the town of Parang. A group of civilians was ordered to take the heads to Parang by Muslim rebel commander Habier Malik.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Romania's parliament voted to suspend the popular president who ushered in economic and social reforms to help the country join the European Union, accusing him of abusing his constitutional powers. President Traian Basescu had earlier vowed to resign "within five minutes" if lawmakers voted to suspend him. His resignation would prompt a new election within three months, and he has said he would run again for office. Former president Nicolae Vacaroiu (1992-1996) became acting president.
(AP, 4/19/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.61)
2007 Apr 19, Rwanda filed a case against France at the UN's highest court in The Hague over a French request that President Paul Kagame be tried by the Rwanda war crimes tribunal.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Somalia fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents left at least 12 people dead in Mogadishu, while a suicide car bomb exploded at an Ethiopian army base.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 19, A Sudanese rebel group said government aircraft destroyed a village in northern Darfur in an air strike.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, Venezuela launched a Zeppelin to patrol Caracas, seeking to fight crime in one of Latin America's most dangerous cities but also raising fears that President Hugo Chavez could be turning into Big Brother.
(Reuters, 4/19/07)
2007 Apr 19, In Zimbabwe 82 members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise group were arrested in Bulawayo during a protest against power outages. 18 of the women were stripped and jailed for hours.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A10)
2007 Apr 20, Vermont senators voted to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In NYC 13 people were indicted on charges stemming from their roles in a credit card fraud. Waiters in about 40 restaurants, in New York and as well eateries in Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Connecticut, had quietly recorded customers' credit card information and passed it on to people who used the information to make more than $3 million worth of worth of illegal purchases. The conspirators had operated from November 2005 until this week.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, The American Economic Association announced that Susan Athey (36), professor at Harvard, had won the John Bates Clark medal. This prestigious honor was awarded every 2 years to the nation’s most promising economist under age 40.
(WSJ, 4/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 20, The family of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho, who shot and killed 32 people and himself, said they felt ‘‘hopeless, helpless and lost,’’ and ‘‘never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.’’
(AP, 4/20/08)
2007 Apr 20, Andrew Hill (b.1931), jazz pianist, died in New Jersey.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.B6)
2007 Apr 20, William Phillips, a NASA contract worker, shot and killed David Beverly, a NASA civil servant, and then killed himself at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 20, A purported Taliban statement demanded the release of a number of the group's fighters and the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the freedom of two kidnapped French aid workers. In southern Afghanistan separate explosions killed two NATO soldiers. A Dutch soldier was killed in one explosion, the first fatality from hostile action among Dutch troops serving with NATO forces in the country.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bolivia’s military retook control of a natural gas pipeline to Argentina after days of violent protests at gas installations in southern Bolivia. More than 1,000 protesters had seized the Yacuiba pipeline station run by Transredes, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. The disturbances killed at least one person and wounded dozens more.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Eight workers went missing after a fire swept through a fish-processing ship off southern Chile, killing one person. 116 members of the Hercules' crew were rescued.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bishop Fu Tieshan (76), the hard-line chairman of the state-sanctioned Catholic Church, died. He sparred had with the Vatican over China's insistence on appointing its own bishops. An upsurge of gas in a coal mine killed 11 miners in the Tao'er Coal Mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 20, Final results from a nationwide referendum showed an overwhelming majority of Ecuadoreans supported President Rafael Correa's push for a special assembly to rewrite the constitution.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung arrived in South Korea to discuss the proposed sale of second-hand Patriot missiles and other military issues.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, It was reported that German researchers had discovered a natural anti-HIV factor. The 20 amino acid peptide chain blocked multiple strains of HIV.
(SFC, 4/20/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 20, AIDA, Germany’s largest cruise line, christened the new 2,050 passenger AIDAdiva in the Hamburg harbor.
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A5)
2007 Apr 20, Thousands of mine workers in Indonesia's remote Papua province protested for a third day as marathon talks with US firm Freeport McMoRan over pay and benefits showed signs of progress.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, Clashes erupted between gunmen and US and Iraqi forces around a Shiite mosque in western Baghdad before Friday prayers, and two suspected insurgents were killed. US forces killed eight suspected insurgents and captured 41 in several raids across Iraq. A roadside bombing in Diwaniyah killed a Polish soldier.
(AP, 4/20/07)(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, Libya's National Oil Corporation and US firm Dow Chemical announced a joint venture to operate and expand the Ras Lanuf petrochemical complex in Libya.
(AFP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Nigeria the opposition said that troops have intercepted a truck-load of already completed ballots a day before the presidential election, heightening fears the vote will be rigged. A Nigerian navy helicopter crashed in the country's south, killing its three crew members. 7 policemen on election duty were ambushed and shot dead near Karu town in central Nassarawa State.
(Reuters, 4/20/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, North Korea restated its commitment to a landmark nuclear disarmament deal, saying it would invite UN atomic inspectors and discuss shutting down its bomb-making atomic reactor as soon as it confirmed the release of its funds frozen in a banking dispute.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Paraguay Japanese businessman Hirokazu Ota, the leader of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church in Paraguay, was freed following a 19-day abduction and a 140,000-dollar ransom payment.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Somalia a local human rights group said 3 days of fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government has killed at least 113 civilians.
(AP, 4/20/07)
2007 Apr 20, In Sri Lanka’s northern district of Vavuniya troops on foot patrol fired at suspected Tamil Tigers killing four rebels. A landmine explosion in the northeastern district of Polonnaruwa killed two soldiers and wounded two others.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 20, A Vatican committee issued a report concluding that unbaptized babies who die may go to heaven and not be stuck in Limbo, which “reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."
(SFC, 4/21/07, p.A7)
2007 Apr 21, A US Navy Blue Angel jet went down during an air show in South Carolina, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Police in Las Vegas raided illegal brothels as part of “Operation Dollhouse," a sting aimed at prostitution and human trafficking with suspected links to Asia. Prostitution is legal in most counties of Nevada, but not in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 21, Reid Stowe (55) and his girlfriend, Soanya Ahmad (23), set off from Hoboken, NJ, on a sailing voyage planned to last 1,000 days and nights with no port calls for supplies. Ahmad abandoned the cruise in February 2008, citing seasickness.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.A9)(AP, 4/21/08)
2007 Apr 21, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (b.1938), a 7-term congressman from Southern California, died of cancer.
(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A2)
2007 Apr 21, Taliban insurgents vowed a new round of attacks against Afghan and foreign troops in the war-torn country, promising to focus more attention on the relatively-peaceful north. Suspected Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol in eastern Afghanistan in a clash that left five militants and one police officer dead. NATO-led troops shot and killed a suspected militant and wounded another in the south. In Nangarhar province US and Afghan troops killed one person and detained nine others during a raid on a compound.
(AFP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/21/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, An earthquake in remote southern Chile shook free a landslide of rocks, sending them smashing into a narrow fjord and causing massive 25-foot waves that swept away 10 beachgoers. Three bodies were recovered the next day.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Cairo an Egyptian-Canadian man was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to 15 years in prison by a special security court.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki arrived in Sudan determined to kick-start talks to end the violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Iran signed a major gas development and production agreement with Austrian energy group OMV.
(Reuters, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A wall US troops are building around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad came under increasing criticism, with residents calling it "collective punishment" and a local leader saying construction began without the neighborhood council's approval. A bomb left on a bus exploded in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, killing at least three people. A roadside bomb killed the mayor of Musayyib. 2 bullet-riddled dead bodies were discovered in Musayyib. Gunmen stormed a house in Kirkuk killing a mother, father and their two teenage daughters. One American soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb southwest of Baghdad. Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili, the chairman of Fallujah's city council, an outspoken critic of al-Qaida who took the job in the former Sunni insurgent stronghold after his three predecessors were assassinated, was killed in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians in clashes in the West Bank, including three militants who died when troops opened fire at their vehicle. A Palestinian policeman was killed when he climbed on the roof of his home during an Israeli arrest operation in the village of Kafr Dan. Palestinian officials said a 17-year-old girl, identified as Bushra Wahash, was shot by Israeli gunfire as she peered out the window of her home in the Jenin refugee camp. Palestinian militants in Gaza fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel. One of the rockets scored a direct hit on a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing no injuries. Minutes later, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a Palestinian car near the rocket launch site. A 37-year-old man in the car was killed and a second occupant was wounded.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Indian-held Kashmir police found the bodies of 2 Hindus with their throats slit, as hundreds protested the killing of a Muslim woman.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, Charles Simonyi, an American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to outer space, returned to Earth in a space capsule that also carried a cosmonaut and an American astronaut, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Mexico a Durango state police commander was kidnapped and killed and two other officers were shot dead in a gun battle with his abductors.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 21, A truck bomb aimed at Nigeria's electoral commission headquarters ran into barriers and failed to explode. Polls opened despite the attack for a presidential vote already shadowed by charges of fraud and a last-minute ballot hitch. Voting in Nigeria's parliamentary elections was suspended in most of central Lagos, the economic capital, because of errors on the ballot papers.
(AP, 4/21/07)(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Somalia heavy fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the government left at least 52 civilians dead in Mogadishu.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Sri Lanka suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a landmine targeting troops on patrol in Batticaloa. A civilian was killed and three others injured.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, Venezuelans marched amid heavy security in the opposition's largest show of support yet for a television station targeted by President Hugo Chavez, whom they accuse of suppressing freedom of speech and democratic rights.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 21, A Zimbabwe cabinet minister said the Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a 58 million dollars financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, The annual Goldman Environmental Prizes were announced on Earth Day. The winners included Julio Cusurichi of Peru for his work to fight illegal logging; Willie Corduff of Ireland for his work to halt an energy project that disregarded local and environmental concerns; Sophia Rabliauskas of Canada for her work to help protect the boreal forest in Manitoba; Orri Vigfussen of Iceland for his work on the North Atlantic Salmon Fund; Ts. Munkhbayar for his work against unregulated mining in Mongolia; and Hammerskjoeld Simwinga for his work in organizing microloan programs in Zambia.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.E1)
2007 Apr 22, In eastern Afghanistan 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up in Khost, killing 11 civilians and wounding over 40 others. In Paktia province, a mob of Taliban fighters ambushed a police patrol, kicking off a three-hour battle that left 5 Taliban dead. Assailants in Laghman province bombed an intelligence service vehicle in an attack that killed two intelligence service officers, a soldier and a driver in the provincial capital of Mehtar Lam. In Ghazni province assailants abducted and beheaded an Afghan intelligence service employee.
(AFP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed as a plane arrived to take her arch rival, the country's last prime minister Khaleda Zia, into exile in Saudi Arabia.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Bosnia a fast-moving fire tore through an orphanage in Sarajevo, killing five babies and injuring 17 others.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Zhou Chunxiu made history as the first Chinese runner to win the London marathon as she came home in 2hrs 20min 38sec, finishing ahead of Ethiopia's Gete Wami and Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, a veteran dissident leader who wrote a book about Cuban prison conditions while behind bars, was freed after serving his entire 17-year sentence.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 22, French voters turned out in force to choose a new president in one of the country's most suspense-filled elections in recent times. In the first round conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist rival Segolene Royal received enough votes to advance to a runoff, which Sarkozy won.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/08)
2007 Apr 22, In India’s Uttar Pradesh state a small political party pushed for the reinstatement of the legal rights of people wrongly declared dead by unscrupulous relatives trying to steal their assets. The Indian Express reported that 8 tigers were missing from the Ranthambore National Park in western India, raising new concerns about the country's dwindling big cat population.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, PM Nouri al-Maliki, on a tour to ask the mostly Sunni-led governments of the Arab world to help his struggling government stop the violence in Iraq, received a strong endorsement from Egypt. Two suicide car bombers attacked a police station in Baiyaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of western Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and turning nearby buildings into piles of rubble. A former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was gunned down near his house in Fallujah. In Suwayrah three bodies were found floating in the Tigris River, blindfolded with the hands bound, and gunshots in the head and chest. The bodies of three brothers abducted six days ago in Mosul were also discovered. In Basra a suspect accused of attacks on British and Iraqi troops in the area was killed in a raid. Two of the man's brothers were arrested. Gunmen in northern Iraq stopped a bus filled with Christians and members of the tiny, mostly Kurdish, Yazidi religious sect, separating out the groups. 21 of the Yazidi passengers were killed. In Mahmoudiya US and Iraqi forces detained eight suspected insurgents and confiscated three caches of weapons during a raid on an apartment complex, including mortars, rockets and ammunition. The weapons appeared to be new and were stamped with recent dates and Iranian markings.
(AP, 4/22/07)(SFC, 4/23/07, p.A7)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 22, Israeli troops killed two Palestinian militants, including a top bombmaker, during an arrest raid. The Islamic militant group Hamas called for new attacks on Israel after eight Palestinians were killed in a surge of fighting over the weekend.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22-2007 Apr 23, In Italy Marco Ahmetovic (22) killed the four teenage boys after driving his van onto a pavement while under the influence of alcohol. He was sentenced to 6-1/2 years detention, but was allowed to spend most of that time under house arrest in return for cooperating with the court.
(Reuters, 11/29/07)
2007 Apr 22, Japan went to the polls in two upper-house by-elections and a chain of local elections that could further weaken the leadership of embattled PM Shinzo Abe.
(AFP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Marcos Leyes Perez, the son of the US consul in southern Oaxaca state, was stabbed during an apparent mugging.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 22, The two main opposition parties denounced the conduct of Nigeria's presidential elections. An influential, homegrown observer group called for a cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule in Africa's top oil producer.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Trustees said a fund to compensate Puerto Rico for damages from a 1994 oil spill will be used to build an artificial reef, create a shoreline nature reserve and restore the walls of a Spanish colonial fort.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, In Mogadishu, Somalia, the two main hospitals said they admitted 26 civilians wounded as fighting eased.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, South Korea agreed to send 400,000 tons of rice to impoverished North Korea despite the communist government's failure to meet a deadline to shut down its nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/22/07)
2007 Apr 22, Congressional Democratic leaders agreed on legislation requiring the first US combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later; President Bush pledged to veto such a measure.
(AP, 4/23/08)
2007 Apr 23, New projections said US Medicare trust funds will run out in 2019 and Social Security in 2041, each a year longer than said by earlier projections.
(WSJ, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, A US Agriculture Department official said a virus in the Great Lakes, that has killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years, is spreading and poses a threat to inland fish farming.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, A Chicago man who spent 25 years in jail for a rape he didn't commit was fully exonerated on the basis of new DNA evidence, bringing to 200 the number of such cases overturned since the 1980s. Jerry Miller (48) was paroled from jail in March 2006 after serving more than half of his 45 year sentence.
(AFP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Paul Erdman (74), world-class economist and banker, died in Sonoma County, Ca. He used his knowledge of economics and politics to write best-selling novels that included “The Billion Dollar Sure Thing" (1973) and “The Crash of ‘79" (1976).
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 23, David Halberstam (73), Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and writer, died in a car crash in San Mateo, Ca. His books included “The Best and the Brightest" (1972) and “The Powers That Be" (1979). He had just finished his 21st book “The Coldest Winter," a history of the Korean War, which was published later this year.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.108)(Econ, 10/6/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, Michael Smuin (68), choreographer, died in SF of a heart attack.
(SFC, 4/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 23, In Afghanistan assailants in Laghman province struck an intelligence service vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb, killing six employees and wounding three. In Zabul province, a roadside bomb hit police as they were patrolling in Shamulzayi district, killing two policemen and wounding five others.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, British bank Barclays Plc agreed to buy Dutch rival ABN AMRO for about 67 billion euros ($91 billion) in shares as it attempts to fight off rivals to clinch the world's biggest bank takeover.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Chinese, state television reported that President Hu Jintao has launched a campaign to rid the country's sprawling Internet of "unhealthy" content and make it a springboard for Communist Party doctrine.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, China’s The Ministry of Land and Resources said agricultural land in China fell to 121.8 million hectares (300 million acres) by the end of October 2006, a loss of 306,800 hectares since the start of the year. The ministry said that heavy metals had contaminated about 13 million tons of grain and that 30.4 million acres is contaminated by pollution.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6582571.stm)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 23, Ecuador's highest court reinstated 51 lawmakers ousted last month for allegedly interfering with a referendum on the South American nation's need for a new constitution, the 19th over the last 180 years.
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.30)
2007 Apr 23, In France Sarkozy and Royal advanced to the second round of France's presidential election, With nearly all votes counted, Sarkozy had 31.1%, followed by Royal with 25.8% and Bayrou with 18.5%. Turnout was 84.6 percent, the highest in more than 40 years and just shy of the record set in 1965.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Indian police discovered a human "bones factory" in West Bengal state and arrested six people for illegally trading in skeletons. Authorities in northeastern Assam state launched a crackdown on rhinoceros poachers, rushing in armed paramilitary soldiers to a sprawling game reserve.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, The American ambassador said the US would "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government after the prime minister ordered a halt to construction of a three-mile wall separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad. A suicide attacker detonated his car in front of an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani. At least 10 people were killed and 20 wounded in the attack in Tal Uskuf. A suicide car bomb struck a restaurant near Ramadi killing at least 19 people and wounding 35. A suicide car bomber also struck a police station in Baqouba killing at least 10 people and wounding 23. In central Baghdad, a bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up in an Iraqi restaurant in the mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhood of Karradah Mariam, killing at least seven people and wounding 16. Nearby a parked car bomb exploded in a parking lot, killing one civilian and wounding another. 9 US soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base in Diyala province. An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web statement the next day claiming responsibility for a suicide truck bombing. A US soldier was also killed in a roadside bombing in Diyala.
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 23, Eleazar Medina Rojas, described as a key member of the powerful Gulf drug cartel, was arrested in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, along with his father, four other cartel members and four women. Authorities reported the killing of Jorge Gonzalez, police chief of Cardenas, in the southern Gulf coast state of Tabasco. Mexican police found the body of Saul Noe Martinez Ortega (36), a newspaper editor abducted last week in the border city of Agua Prieta. He had been dead at least six days and was found in neighboring Chihuahua state.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria's ruling party was declared winner of a presidential poll rejected by the opposition and condemned by observers as a "charade."
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Northern Ireland Brendan Cranston (42), was shot through both legs and beaten, while his 38-year-old partner, Linda Doherty, also was assaulted. A brother-in-law of Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein deputy leader supposed to oversee a new power-sharing government for Northern Ireland, was charged on April 26 with kidnapping and assaulting the couple in an IRA-style operation.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 23, Philippine police said they have identified a local woodcarver as a suspect in the April 8 killing of Julia Campbell, a US Peace Corps volunteer, and are following up leads on a possible accomplice. They named the suspect as Juan Duntugan (25) from the village of Batad in Banaue township. Duntugan gave himself up April 27 and confessed on television, saying he would accept "whatever punishment you will impose on me."
(AP, 4/23/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 23, Boris Yeltsin (b.1931), former Russian leader (1991-1999), died. He engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union (1991) and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy. His 1994 memoir was titled "The Struggle for Russia."
(AP, 4/23/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.98)
2007 Apr 23, The WWF said hunters in Russia's Far East have shot and killed one of the last seven surviving female Amur leopards living in the wild.
(Reuters, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, In Somalia masked Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government forces pounded each other with machine-gun fire, mortars and heavy artillery in Mogadishu, bringing the death toll from six days of fighting to at least 250.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A bomb ripped through a long-distance bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least three passengers and wounding 35 in the third bombing of a civilian bus this month.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, A top Sudanese government official offered a two-month halt in military operations in strife-torn Darfur to allow for rebel groups to join the peace process.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 23, Syrians voted for a second day in a tightly controlled election to pick a new legislature, a vote President Bashar Assad hopes can consolidate his rule, soften his regime's authoritarian image and ease its international isolation.
(AP, 4/23/07)
2007 Apr 24, In a harsh exchange, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home, a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush's "attack dog" lashing out.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2007 Apr 24, The US military formally charged Omar Khadr (20), a young Canadian prisoner, with murder and other crimes, clearing the way for his trial before the war crimes tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay naval base. Khadr was captured during a gunfight at an alleged al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan when he was 15 and sent to Guantanamo shortly after turning 16. Khadr's family was close to Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born father, Ahmed Said Khadr, was an alleged al Qaeda financier killed in a battle with Pakistani soldiers in 2003. His family had lived in Pakistan but returned to Canada after the elder Khadr's death.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, US FDA advisers endorsed a Pfizer AIDS drug that fights HIV by blocking one of two cell receptors that are infection routes.
(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, A consortium led by US private equity group KKR was left unchallenged in its quest to take over Alliance Boots, after a rival British bidder withdrew its bid for Europe's biggest pharmacy chain.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, The video game “Lord of the Rings Online," developed by Turbine Inc., was released for the Microsoft Windows platform. It initially cost players $40 plus a subscription for each month played.
(Econ, 12/10/11, SR p.7)
2007 Apr 24, A tornado in the Texas border town of Eagle Pass killed at least 10 people and destroyed two schools and more than 20 homes. The storm killed 2 more people in Arkansas and Louisiana.
(AP, 4/25/07)(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 24, European astronomers announced they had found a potentially habitable planet outside the solar system. They said the planet had Earth-like temperatures, a find described as a big step in the search for "life in the universe." The planet, named 581c, circled the red dwarf star, Gliese 581, relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away.
(AP, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.93)
2007 Apr 24, Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. reported that it outsold General Motors Corp. by around 90,000 vehicles in the first quarter, moving a step closer to unseating its US rival as the world's biggest automaker. Aside from a few strike-related blips GM had been the top US car seller since 1931.
(Reuters, 4/24/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.76)
2007 Apr 24, Warren E. Avis (b.1915), founder of the Avis Rent-A-Car System (1946), died in Ann Arbor, Mich.
(WSJ, 4/28/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Afghan and international forces clashed overnight with Taliban insurgents in two separate gun battles in the south and west, leaving 13 militants dead and four other people wounded. Five more “enemy elements" were killed in the northeastern province of Kunar in an operation by troops from the Afghan security forces and US-led coalition. Militants ambushed a police car in the west, killing four officers, in the Guzara district in Herat province. Fighting in Ghazni province left three construction company guards and seven Taliban dead.
(AFP, 4/24/07)(AFP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, British anti-terrorist police arrested six people who were suspected of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and raising funds for terrorism.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Ecuador's popular President Rafael Correa tightened his hold over all branches of government, sending police to prevent the return of opposition lawmakers as his tentative majority in Congress dismissed all nine members of the nation's highest court.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Baghdad two bombs went off outside the Iranian Embassy for the second consecutive day. Six civilians were injured. In Diyala province gunmen disguised as Iraqi soldiers killed six Iraqis and burned five homes. South of Baghdad a family of seven was shot to death in their beds at dawn by masked gunmen. The Shaibah logistics base, once the main center of British military operations in Iraq, was turned over to the Iraqi national army on for use as a training base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, China's secretive communist government said it has approved rules boosting official transparency but added that state secrets have to be safeguarded and social stability preserved. Eight miners were missing and feared dead following an explosion in a mine in Handan, an industrial city in Hebei province.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing 65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial. In 2008 security forces arrested eight men suspected of involvement in the deadly raid.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)(AFP, 3/30/08)
2007 Apr 24, In Indonesia Richard Ness an American director of Newmont Mining Corp., the world's largest gold producer, was acquitted of charges the company dumped dangerous amounts of toxic waste into a bay off Sulawesi Island.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, The armed wing of Hamas fired a barrage of rockets and mortar shells from Gaza toward Israel on its independence day, and said they considered it the end of a five-month truce with Israel.
(AP, 4/24/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 24, Joji Obara (54), a Tokyo businessman, was sentenced to life in prison for a wave of brutal assaults on women, but was cleared over the 2000 abduction and killing of British bar hostess Lucie Blackman.
(AFP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Mexico City lawmakers voted to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, a landmark decision likely to heighten church-state tensions in the Roman Catholic nation and lead to a bitter court battle.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, The Nigerian government accused Bola Tinubu, the governor of Lagos, of operating foreign accounts contrary to his oath of office.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 24, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Spain, part of a four-nation tour of Europe, for talks expected to focus on Islamic radicalism and NATO's mission in Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, At a conference in Moscow titled “Megaprojects of Russia’s East," supporters proposed a 68-mile tunnel under the Bering Strait. The tunnel linking Alaska and Siberia would cost $65 billion and take some 20 years to build.
(SFC, 4/25/07, p.A6)
2007 Apr 24, Rwandan media said that a former Belgian army officer in the UN mission to Rwanda (Minuar) has accused French soldiers of training extremist Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Somalia artillery shells and mortars rained down on Mogadishu in a seventh straight day of raging battles that have left nearly 250 dead.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Tamil rebel planes bombed government positions in northern Sri Lanka in their second-ever airstrike. The military said six soldiers were killed but that the aircraft were turned back before reaching a key base.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, A Syrian court convicted prominent human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni of disseminating hostile information and sentenced him to five years in jail.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Turkey's foreign minister Abdullah Gul was named as the ruling party's candidate for the presidency, a decision that will maintain continuity in EU reforms but fails to resolve a fight between the country's secular and Islamist camps.
(AP, 4/24/07)
2007 Apr 24, Yanis Chimaras (51), a Venezuelan soap opera actor, was stabbed to death when he came upon a robbery in a Caracas suburb. The Justice Ministry reported 9,402 homicides nationwide in 2005.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Brushing off a presidential veto threat, the House passed, 218-208, a $124.2 billion supplemental spending bill ordering US troops to begin coming home from Iraq in the fall of 2007.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, US federal authorities arrested John P. Tomkins (42) of Dubuque, Iowa, a man suspected of mailing dud pipe bombs to financial companies in Chicago and Kansas City, Mo., and threatening letters that were signed "The Bishop."
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Rosie O'Donnell announced she was leaving the ABC talk show "The View" in June.
(AP, 4/25/08)
2007 Apr 25, The DJIA closed above 13,000 for the first time rising 135.95 to a record 13,089.89. Nasdaq rose 23.35 to 2,547.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 25, Negotiators reached a tentative settlement in the 10-day school strike in Hayward, Ca.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.B3)
2007 Apr 25, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said he found genes of the single-celled, spore producing parasite Nosema ceranae in dead bees. Researchers in Spain had recently shown that the parasite is capable of wiping out a beehive.
(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 25, In eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb attack on an Afghan military convoy left seven soldiers dead. A suicide attacker blew himself up close to the vehicle of a district governor of Paktika. Militants ambushed a police vehicle in the western province of Herat overnight and killed three policemen. Afghan police and US special troops clashed with foreign militants in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least five militants.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Argentina a federal court threw out amnesties for former military President Jorge Videla (81) and Navy chief Eduardo Massera, two leaders of the former military dictatorship, saying they must serve their life terms in prison for crimes against humanity.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, A top US diplomat warned of new sanctions against Belarus if authorities refuse to release what he said were political prisoners, and dropping charges against others.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, China detained four Americans on Mount Everest after they called for independence for Tibet and protested the Beijing Olympics. More than 50 children were poisoned by a kindergarten breakfast in Zhengzhou city in Henan province, in the latest case highlighting problems in the country's food supply chain.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis, a Belgian-Dutch lender and Santander of Spain launched a blockbuster 72-billion-euro takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, outgunning by far an agreed offer by Barclays.
(AFP, 4/25/07)(Econ, 4/28/07, p.85)(Econ, 7/19/08, p.84)
2007 Apr 25, In Indonesia the MT Maulana, an oil tanker that had just unloaded its cargo, exploded on a Sumatran river, killing four crew members.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, A UN report was released that said that violence in Baghdad remains at high levels. The UN Assistance Mission in Iraq singled out Kurdistan in its 10th human rights report on Iraq, expressing concern over infringements on freedom of expression by the regional government. A suicide bomber wearing a hidden belt of explosives attacked a police station in Iraq's volatile province of Diyala, killing at least four policeman. Roadside bombs, mortar rounds and drive-by shootings also killed 10 Iraqis and wounded 23 in the Baghdad area and the cities of Kirkuk, Mosul and Fallujah.
(AP, 4/25/07)(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Israel’s PM Ehud Olmert authorized the army to carry out limited operations against militants in the Gaza Strip, but ruled out a large-scale ground offensive in response to a new round of Hamas rocket attacks.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Japan adopted stricter gun control guidelines following a spate of gangster shootings that rattled a nation renowned for its crime-free streets.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, Barbara Blida (57), a former Polish government minister, committed suicide in her bathroom as police searched her house in connection with corruption allegations. Blida, a lawmaker for the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance from 1989-2005 and construction minister from 1993-1996, was suspected of taking and receiving material gains. The raid was part of an investigation into corruption allegations against 14 people.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Somalia civilians were caught in the crossfire as the government's Ethiopian backers used tanks and heavy artillery to pound insurgent strongholds. Human rights groups said more than 350 people have been killed in the last eight days, the majority civilians.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, The UN food agency said Sudanese authorities were holding up to 100,000 tons of sorghum meant for Darfur, alleging that it is genetically modified. Laboratory tests had shown it was not genetically modified.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 25, Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko pushed back the date of snap parliamentary elections until June 24. The move was seen as a conciliatory gesture as the Constitutional Court began deliberations on the legality of his decree dissolving parliament.
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Apr 25, In Venezuela officials from Chevron, BP PLC, France’s Total SA and Norway’s Statoil ASA signed memorandums of agreement to give state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA a majority stake in 3 projects. ConocoPhillips resisted giving up control of 2 projects.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D3)
2007 Apr 26, The Senate joined the House in clearing legislation calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq to begin by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later. President Bush vetoed the measure.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, Authorities said 2 detainees at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, an Afghan and a Moroccan, have been transferred to the custody of their native countries.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Orangeburg, S.C., 8 Democratic presidential hopefuls gathered for their first debate of the 2008 campaign.
(AP, 4/26/08)
2007 Apr 26, California lawmakers approved a $7.4 billion prison construction proposal. This was called the biggest prison expansion plan in American history.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.B1)
2007 Apr 26, The DJIA rose 15.61 to a record 13,105.50. Nasdaq rose 6.57 to 2,554.
(SFC, 4/27/07, p.D1)
2007 Apr 26, Alfredo Figueroa (40), owner of the Red Onion hamburger restaurant in El Cerrito, was shot and killed during a robbery.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 26, Jack Valenti (b.1921), 38-year president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), died. His autobiography “This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House, and Hollywood," was published posthumously.
(WSJ, 6/22/07, p.W6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Valenti)
2007 Apr 26, More than 100 suspected Taliban attacked Giro, setting fire to buildings and cutting telephone lines. The district mayor, police chief and three policemen were killed during several hours of fighting. It was estimated that about 10 of the militants also died.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Six central African countries (Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon and Congo) plan to launch a common passport in July, permitting the free movement of goods and people across their borders.
(AFP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Bangladesh's emergency government backtracked on plans to exile two feuding former prime ministers but appeared to threaten the women with corruption charges if they stayed in the country.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Britain widened an investigation into the collection of human body parts for scientific tests at nuclear plants. Unions representing nuclear industry workers said as many as 70 people who worked at the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in northern England and other nuclear facilities may have had bones, organs or other tissue removed for tests.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Canada promised curbs on air pollution and a new approach to greenhouse gas emissions in a plan the government says will slow, then reverse the rise in output of pollutants blamed for global warming.
(Reuters, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, China said it has banned melamine from food products after the chemical was found in exports of vegetable protein shipped to the United States, but rejected it as the cause of dozens of pet deaths in North America.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Colombia's electrical grid collapsed, causing a nationwide blackout that briefly halted stock trading, trapped people in elevators and left authorities struggling to determine the cause.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa went deep into the Amazon jungle to show his disdain for Chevron Corp., which is on trial here for allegedly failing to clean up billions of gallons of toxic wastewater. He is the nation’s first president to support the estimated 30,000 settlers and Amazon Indians who are suing the US oil giant. Plaintiffs sought $6 billion in damages, alleging that Texaco dumped more than 18 billion gallons of oily wastewater into the verdant rain forest, and failed to properly clean it up. Their evidence includes studies showing elevated cancer rates in the area.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Estonia protesters gathered at a Soviet war grave in downtown Tallinn, as authorities prepared to remove the bodies despite Russia's angry objections. Estonia's government intends to relocate the Soviet grave, believed to contain the remains of 14 soldiers, and the Bronze Soldier statue next to it.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Ethiopian rebels holding seven Chinese oil workers captured during an attack this week on an oil venture in Ethiopia said they would release them "as soon as possible."
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Greece suspected anarchists threw gasoline bombs at cars parked outside a central Athens police station, destroying 12 vehicles in the latest in a series of arson attacks, authorities said.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In India police arrested 3 suspected Islamic militants armed with explosives near the Dilli Haat crafts market, a popular New Delhi tourist site. A Pakistani national and two Kashmiris were carrying a package of explosives, a detonator and a hand grenade. They were believed to be members of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militant group.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq killed 10 soldiers. 4 insurgents were killed as the US targeted suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants near Taji. 2 women and 2 children were believed to have been killed during the fighting. 2 suicide bombers attacked an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, killing three of its guards and wounding five. In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb missed a passing police patrol but killed 4 civilians and wounded 9. A parked car bomb exploded near Baghdad University, killing 6 civilians and wounding 18, including some students. US forces killed 3 insurgents during a gunbattle in the Shiite neighborhood Sadr City. The US military announced that Army Lt. Col. William H. Steele has been charged with nine offenses, including aiding the enemy. Violence in Iraq killed at least 72 people, including the bullet-riddled bodies of 27 men dumped in Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
(AP, 4/26/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 26, Police in Lebanon found the bodies of a man and a 12-year-old boy who disappeared earlier this week, an incident that has shaken the country and sparked fears of renewed sectarian violence.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia's 13th king, formally ascended the throne, pledging to reign wisely and safeguard the sanctity of Islam in a ceremony marked by traditional Malay rites and imperial pageantry. Malaysia's system allows each of its hereditary state rulers to take turns reigning as the country's constitutional monarch for five years each.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, A new measure legalizing abortions in Mexico City was published into law, allowing doctors to almost immediately begin terminating pregnancies in their first trimester.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Myanmar and North Korea signed an agreement to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Nigeria's main opposition party said it will not recognize or cooperate with any government formed as a result of last weekend's presidential election, which was won by the party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Peru’s Congress granted President Garcia the power to rule by decree for 60 days on matters related to drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime, strengthening his hand in the battle against cocaine production and smuggling. A US report claimed that the Shining Path may now have hundreds of armed combatants and that it is entwined with drug trafficking.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.50)
2007 Apr 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his last annual address to lawmakers, attacked US foreign policy and embraced traditional values in a hawkish speech that laid out a route for his successor to follow when he steps down next year.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Somalia's prime minister claimed victory over Islamic insurgents in Mogadishu, where nine days of battles using tanks and artillery left hundreds dead.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Syria’s government said that the ruling coalition took an overwhelming majority of seats in parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the opposition as a farce.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, In Turkey an eight-story apartment building collapsed in Istanbul, and some people were reportedly buried under the debris.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 26, Zimbabwe's central bank governor Gideon Gono said the annual rate of inflation, already the highest in the world, rose to 2,200 percent last month.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 Apr 27, President Bush and visiting Japanese PM Shinzo Abe threatened stronger punitive actions against North Korea if it reneged on a promise to padlock its sole nuclear reactor.
(AP, 4/27/08)
2007 Apr 27, The US dollar slid to a record low against the euro. The worst economic growth in four years raised concern that troubles in the US housing market will spread and throw the country into a recession before the year is out.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Randall Tobias, head of the Bush administration's foreign aid programs, abruptly resigned after his name surfaced in an investigation into a high-priced call-girl ring.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 27, The Pentagon said it had taken custody of Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi, a senior al-Qaeda commander. Officials said al-Iraqi was handed over to the CIA in late 2006.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 27, The Ninth Circuit federal appeals court rebuffed a Bush administration effort to relax dolphin-safe labeling standards.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 27, The DJIA rose 15.44 to a record 13,120.94. Nasdaq rose 2.75 to 2,557.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.C1)
2007 Apr 27, In Santa Cruz, Ca., Steven Harold Smith (50), a supervisor at a wastewater treatment plant, wounded his estranged wife, shot and killed a co-worker and then killed himself.
(SFC, 4/28/07, p.B2)
2007 Apr 27, Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and police retook the Giro district from the Taliban, pushing out militants who had seized the area in fierce fighting a day earlier.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to phase out tax breaks and discounts on land and electricity for highly polluting industries, saying the country's environmental situation was grim and required urgent action.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, China said it has expelled five Americans who staged a protest against the Olympics on Mount Everest to challenge Chinese rule over the mountainous region.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Estonia removed a Soviet war memorial from downtown Tallinn under cover of darkness, carrying out a plan that has rankled Russia and provoked protests that left one person dead and dozens injured.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, US-led forces detained nine suspected insurgents in raids aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq, including five in Mosul that has seen a recent rise in violence as militants fled there to escape a crackdown in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was cleared in a high-profile corruption case involving bribing judges.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Japan's Supreme Court upheld a ruling denying compensation to two Chinese women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The court said that the women had no right to seek war compensation from Japan because of a 1972 agreement with China. The top court also overturned a lower court ruling awarding compensation to five Chinese who were forced to work for a Japanese construction company during the war.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, The UN Security Council lifted its embargo on Liberia's diamond exports, saying the west African nation has made progress in certifying the origin of its rough diamonds. A multi-day strike at the Firestone Rubber plantation in Liberia turned violent as police clashed with striking workers, leaving at least six people wounded.
(AFP, 4/27/07)(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Nigeria's Supreme Court voided the removal of Joshua Dariye, a Plateau state governor, who fled London on money laundering charges in November 2004. In Nigeria police said 5 gunmen and two police officers were killed during an attempt to kidnap two foreign oil workers in the oil-rich city of Port Harcourt.
(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, An apparent US missile strike killed 4 people in Saidgi, a village in the North Waziristan of Pakistan near the Afghan border.
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269012,00.html)
2007 Apr 27, A Russian military helicopter crashed in Chechnya, killing all 18 people aboard, emergency officials said. There were conflicting reports about whether the craft was shot down.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, Mstislav Rostropovich (b.1927), master cellist, died. He had fought for the rights of Soviet-era dissidents and later triumphantly played Bach suites below the crumbling Berlin Wall.
(AP, 4/27/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.92)
2007 Apr 27, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said police had arrested 172 Islamic militants, some of whom had trained abroad as pilots so they could fly aircraft in attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil fields. A spokesman said all that remained in the plot "was to set the zero hour." More than $32.4 million was seized in the operation, one of the largest sweeps against terror cells in the kingdoms.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 27, A Spanish judge indicted three US soldiers in the 2003 death of Jose Couso, a Spanish journalist who was killed when their tank opened fire at a hotel in Baghdad.
(AP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 28, Actors and musicians including Elton John, George Clooney, Bob Geldof and Mick Jagger called on world leaders to take "decisive action" over atrocities in Darfur. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi urged African, Arab and Western diplomats to work with Sudanese rebels to find an immediate solution to the crisis in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Richard Holbrooke, the former US ambassador to the UN, said Afghanistan's US-backed government, tarnished by corruption and unable to control large swaths of its own territory, is rapidly losing the support of ordinary Afghans.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Dabbs Greer, character actor, died at age 90.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Tommy Newsom, "Tonight Show" assistant conductor, died at age 78.
(AP, 4/28/08)
2007 Apr 28, Lou Papan (78), long-time California state assemblyman for San Mateo County, died. Papan had started his political career as a Daly City councilman.
(SFC, 5/1/07, p.B5)
2007 Apr 28, The Taliban freed a female French aid worker who was kidnapped more than three weeks ago, but demanded the withdrawal of French troops or release of prisoners for the freedom of a French man and three Afghans still being held. Afghan and coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in separate incidents in the east and south, killing 21 insurgents.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Australia's centre-left Labor Party scrapped its 25-year ban on new uranium mines in a move miners said would encourage new investment and growth in the industry.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's president called for closer business ties with Taiwan to help squelch the self-ruled island's pro-independence movement as he met with a former Taiwanese opposition leader.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, China's ZTE signed a $200 million deal with Ethiopia's state-owned Telecom Corp.
(AFP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Estonia minority Russian youths angry over the government's decision to remove a Soviet war memorial from Tallinn rioted for a second night, with unrest spreading to at least two other towns. 66 people were injured in the capital, including six policemen. More than 500 people, many of them adolescents, were detained overnight as vandals prowled the streets, breaking shop windows and looting stores.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, Guyana police found the remains of an elderly woman who was lynched by a crowd of villagers. She had been accused of being an “Old Higue," an evil spirit who drinks the blood of human babies.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, It was reported that pro-Indonesian militias had regrouped in the mountainous center of Aceh as the Communication Forum for Children of the Nation (Forkab).
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.47)
2007 Apr 28, A parked car exploded near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the city of Karbala as people were headed to the area for evening prayers, killing 68 people and wounding dozens. In Baghdad gunmen opened fire on a vehicle in a Sunni-Shiite neighborhood, killing 4 of 7 people aboard. In western Baghdad, two mortar shells hit another residential area of poor, two-story homes, killing 3 Iraqi children, between the ages of 5 and 7, and wounding 10 Iraqis, including 3 children. US forces detained 17 suspected insurgents in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq. The Danish military announced that it has sent an unspecified number of special forces to Iraq to reinforce its 460-strong contingent near the southern city of Basra. A US soldier was slain by small arms fire during a patrol in eastern Baghdad.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Israeli troops killed at least three Hamas militants who were en route to carrying out an attack.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In Jamaica the 7-week, 1st Cricket World Cup ended with Australia defeating Sri Lanka.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.48)
2007 Apr 28, The 1st round of the Mali presidential election garnered a turnout of around 36%. Incumbent President Amadou Toumani Toure (59), one of 8 candidates, was widely expected to win a second term. General Amadou Toumani Toure and Soumaila Cisse, candidate for the ruling party Adema, faced each other for the 2nd round.
(AFP, 5/6/07)(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1982814.stm)
2007 Apr 28, In Nigeria ballot papers were stolen and voters intimidated as polls were re-staged for hundreds of state and federal legislators' seats after elections widely condemned as fraudulent. Oil officials said Nigeria is currently losing 600,000 barrels of oil per day in the oil rich Niger Delta as a result of the activities of militants in the region.
(AP, 4/28/07)(AFP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, In northwest Pakistan a suicide attacker detonated a bomb as Aftab Khan Sherpao, the interior minister, finished speaking at a public meeting, killing 28 people and wounding the official. Saud Memon (44), a suspect in the death of WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl, was dumped, badly injured and weighing less than 80 pounds, in front of his Karachi home. He had been secretly detained and interrogated by US and Pakistani intelligence.
(Reuters, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/29/07)(WSJ, 11/12/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 28, A Philippine air force helicopter crashed on a busy street in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu Island, pinning a motorcycle taxi and hitting another with its spinning rotors. At least 9 people on the ground and one airman were killed. Norberto Linao Jr., the mayor of Morong town in Bataan province, escaped injury after assailants sprayed his house with gunfire.
(AFP, 4/28/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 28, Turkey's Islamist-rooted government called the army to order, saying it is answerable to the civilian authority, after the military threatened action to defend the country's secular system.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 28, Zimbabwe announced new controls to clamp down on charities and other humanitarian organizations, including democracy and human rights groups that the government accuses of campaigning against it. A state daily reported that Zimbabwe has compensated 800 white farmers for property seized during controversial land reforms launched by President Robert Mugabe's government.
(AP, 4/28/07)
2007 Apr 29, A stretch of highway near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed after a gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames, leaving one of the nation's busiest spans in a state of near paralysis. Officials said traffic could be disrupted for months. Driver James Mosqueda (51) managed to away with 2nd degree burns.
(AP, 4/29/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 29, In Kansas City, Mo., David W. Logsdon, driving a dead woman’s car, was shot and killed by police after he killed 2 people in the parking lot of a mall.
(SFC, 4/30/07, p.A3)(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in the crash of his sport utility vehicle.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Apr 29, Hundreds of angry protesters chanting "Death to Bush" demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan after six people, including a woman and a teenage girl, were reportedly killed when US-led coalition and Afghan forces raided a suspected car bomb cell. Afghanistan's education minister said at least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in attacks blamed on insurgents who oppose education for girls and teaching boys anything other than religion. In western Afghanistan coalition and Afghan forces attacked the insurgents and called in an airstrike, destroying seven Taliban positions and killing 87 fighters during a 14-hour engagement in Herat province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Octavio Frias de Oliveira (94), who published Brazil's biggest newspaper and Web site and helped modernize the country's media, died of kidney failure.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In China 7 suspects went on trial in the beating death of a reporter at an illegal coal mine in northern Shanxi province. Lan Chengzhang was attacked along with a colleague when they went to interview Hou Zhenrun, the owner of the small unlicensed coal mine outside the northern city of Datong on Jan 10. He died the next day from head injuries.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Colombia's navy made the largest drug seizure in the nation's history as it uncovered up to 27 tons of cocaine buried along the Pacific coast.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Ethiopia 7 Chinese oil workers and two Africans kidnapped during a rebel attack on a Chinese oil field near the Somali border were released.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Egypt police arrested two lawmakers and at least 10 other members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group as part of an ongoing campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, American troops also detained 72 suspected insurgents and seized nitric acid and other bomb-making materials during raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq in Anbar province. Britain said one of its soldiers was shot to death while on patrol in southern Iraq. In Basra 5 people were reported killed by an explosion. Iraqi police initially said it was a car bomb, but the British military said it appeared the blast accidentally occurred while explosives and weapons were being moved. A roadside bomb killed 3 American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter on a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad. A Marine was killed during combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 4/29/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Japan and the resources-rich United Arab Emirates agreed to launch a high-level dialogue aimed at boosting economic ties and to speed up talks on a free trade pact. Officials of the governmental Japan Bank for International Cooperation decided to extend massive loans to Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. in exchange for securing a stable oil supply for Japan.
(AP, 4/29/07)(http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070430a2.html)
2007 Apr 29, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah held an unannounced meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the recent escalation in Israeli-Palestinian tensions. Saudi Arabia banned the sale of concentrated fertilizer, a favorite component of homemade terrorist bombs.
(AP, 4/30/07)(Econ, 5/5/07, p.60)
2007 Apr 29, Tamil Tiger rebels bombed a fuel refinery and gasoline storage facility near the Sri Lankan capital, and authorities cut power to the city. Hours later, the military pounded rebel positions in the north.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Protests took place around the world to demand that world leaders act to prevent further bloodshed in Darfur on the fourth anniversary of the conflict's start.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand killed two Buddhist villagers, beheading one of them, and left a note saying the attack was revenge for a deadly weekend bombing at a mosque.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 29, Some 700,000 Turks waving the red national flag flooded central Istanbul to demand the resignation of the government, saying the Islamic roots of Turkey's leaders threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr 29, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela hopes to gradually sell off its refineries in the United States and build a new network of refineries in Latin America, part of a plan to offer his leftist allies in the region a stable oil supply.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The US announced a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development, with proposed lease sales covering 48 million new acres.
(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, US and Mexican law enforcement officials said Mexican druglords are taking over the business of smuggling migrants into the United States, using them as human decoys to divert authorities from billions of dollars in cocaine shipments across the same border.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Delta Air Lines emerged from bankruptcy after 19 months in Chapter 11.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.84)
2007 Apr 30, Tom Poston (b.1921), American TV and film actor, died in Los Angeles.
(AP, 4/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Poston)
2007 Apr 30, The presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, a meeting arranged by Turkish leaders, agreed to share intelligence on extremist groups to bolster efforts to deny sanctuary, training and financing to terrorists in both countries. NATO-led troops killed 75 suspected insurgents on the first day of an operation against Taliban militants in a valley in southern Helmand province. Hundreds of people demonstrated in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat, after coalition and Afghan operations there on April 27 and 29, insisting that civilians were among the victims. Police the next day said at least 30 civilians, including women and children, were among those killed in Shindand's fighting. The US military reported killing 136 rebels over 3 days of fighting in western Afghanistan. One US soldier died in the clashes.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)(AFP, 5/1/07)(WSJ, 5/1/07, p.A1)
2007 Apr 30, Miles Hilton-Barber (58), A blind British adventurer, touched down in Sydney Monday to end an epic 13,500-mile flight by microlight aircraft from London. His 54-day journey was performed under the supervision of sighted co-pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, A British judge sentenced five men to life in prison for plotting to bomb several targets in London including a popular nightclub, power plants and shopping mall in a trial that exposed links between the men and at least two of the suicide bombers who attacked the capital two years ago. Mohammed Junaid Babar's testimony in the yearlong trial revealed how disaffected Britons were trained for terrorism in Pakistan, where many have family ties. The former terrorist turned informant was arrested in New York in 2004, and has since given evidence to prosecutors in Britain, the US and Pakistan.
(AP, 4/30/07)(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, Britain's first convicted war criminal was sentenced to a year in prison and dismissed from the army in connection with the death of an Iraqi hotel worker. Corp. Donald Payne had pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating Iraqi civilians in southern Basra in 2003.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In China a manager of a feed company and one of the chemical's producers said that the mildly toxic chemical melamine is commonly added to animal feed in China. The process fraudulently boosts the feed's sales value but risks introducing the chemical into meat eaten by humans.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Egyptian authorities released two Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers but ordered 12 other members of the country's most powerful opposition group detained.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, A suicide car bomber apparently targeting an Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi checkpoint near a busy square in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Harthiyah in western Baghdad, killing 4 people and wounding 10. Some 50 gunmen attacked a police station in a mainly Sunni Arab area in the northern city of Mosul, prompting clashes as police chased the attackers through the streets. 4 gunmen were killed and two were detained, while one policeman was wounded. A parked car bomb struck a police patrol in the same area, killing one policeman and wounding two. A suicide bomber struck a crowd of funeral mourners north of Baghdad killing over 30 people. Nationwide at least 102 people were killed.
(AP, 4/30/07)(SFC, 5/1/07, p.A12)
2007 Apr 30, An Israeli government commission aimed harsh criticism at PM Ehud Olmert and other officials for their handling of last summer's war in Lebanon.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Hundreds of protesters briefly pushed into the Palestinian education ministry as Fatah-allied teachers in the West Bank went on strike to press for the payment of overdue salaries. Angry Palestinian demonstrators stormed the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City, demanding that Egypt release five Palestinians held in Cairo jails.
(AP, 5/1/07)(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In the northern Philippines Mayor Julian Resuello of San Carlos died 2 days after he was shot to death.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The South African government and AIDS campaigners launched a joint national body to oversee a program aimed at halving the country's rate of new infections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Sudanese armed forces vowed to "crush" a coalition of rebel groups in Darfur for killing an officer whose helicopter had landed in north Darfur after a technical failure.
(Reuters, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Thailand suspected Islamic insurgents exploded a bomb at a busy night market and wounded 20 people.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, In southern Tunisia a stampede at an open-air concert by stars of the Arab version of "American Idol" killed seven young people and injured 32.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr 30, The Turkish stock market plunged, reacting sharply to political tensions as the Islamic-rooted government comes under strong pressure from secular circles to call parliamentary elections.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, President Hugo Chavez announced he would pull Venezuela out of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a largely symbolic move because the nation has already paid off its debts to the lending institutions.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Apr, in Azerbaijan journalist Eynulla Fatullayev was imprisoned. He was soon sentenced to 8-1/2 years in jail on charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred and tax evasion. In December 2009 new charges of illegal possession of drugs were brought against him.
(Reuters, 6/3/10)
2007 Apr, Georgia reported that outbreaks of African swine fever began at the end of April in 10 regions across the country. 20,000 pigs were soon slaughtered. In June the UN said that the outbreak could have a "catastrophic" economic impact unless its spread is halted.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Apr, The web site mediapredict.com began operations. The NYC-based start-up used editorial feedback from a large number of volunteers in a game format to help executives decide which manuscripts should become books.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.73)(http://mediapredict.com/)
2007 Apr, Bolivia became the 32nd nation to ban or restrict used clothing imports in an attempt to protect native clothing industries.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 Apr, In Colombia the soldiers in Antelope Company's Third Platoon killed Leonardo Montes, a civilian and brother to one of the platoon’s soldiers, and registered the murder as a guerrilla kill. The brother’s pleas failed to prevent the killing. The platoon hadn't registered a guerrilla kill in months, and without results, they feared they wouldn't be let off base for Mother's Day. 5 soldiers faced a criminal probe in the murder, joining some 480 soldiers under investigation for about 1,000 extrajudicial killings during the presidency of Alvaro Uribe.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Apr, Yoani Sanchez (32) began posting her Generacion Y blog from Havana.
(WSJ, 12/22/07, p.A1)(www.desdecuba.com/generaciony)
2007 Apr, In India Mahindra Renault, a joint venture formed in 2005, launched a new version of the Logan priced at $7,100 before taxes. The original Logan was designed in Romania. It went on sale in Iran in March under the name Tondar (thunder), with record orders and deliveries due in May. Iran’s model was built by Iran Khodro (IKCO) and Saipa.
(Econ, 4/28/07, p.78)
2007 Apr, A court in Venice, Italy, allowed Alexandra Hai (40), a German of Algerian descent, to operate a gondola, but only for the residents of one of the city’s hotels. Her permit was opposed by the city’s male gondoliers.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A11)
2007 Apr, Stanislovas Jucys, a Lithuanian businessman, disappeared. He was the CEO of a Kaliningrad-based construction company with a majority stake in Lithuanian hands. Jucys' replacement was killed a few months later, and the company was taken over by a Russian firm.
(Reuters, 3/20/08)
2007 Apr, Mexico’s CompartamosBanco went public as a lender to the poor. It was created in 1990 as a non-Governmental Organization (NGO). ACCION Int’l., a charity that has helped to spread microfinance since the 1970s, was an early investor and banked $140 million in the IPO, while retaining a 9% stake. ACCION had received funding from USAID.
(Econ, 5/17/08, p.93)(http://tinyurl.com/46esnp)
2007 Apr, The International Prize for Arabic Fiction was officially launched in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2008 the Philanthropy in Abu Dhabi awarded the 1st annual Int’l. Prize for Arabic Fiction to Bahaa Taher for “Sunset Oasis."
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.95)(http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=1064)
2007 May 1, Pres. Bush cast the 2nd veto of his presidency rejecting an attempt by both chambers of Congress to set a timetable for bringing troops home from Iraq.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.36)
2007 May 1, Julie A. MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, resigned after an internal review found that she had violated federal rules by giving government documents to lobbyists for industry. In November the US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed 7 rulings that had denied endangered species increased protection.
(www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2007/Interior-Wildlife-Decisions21jul07.htm)(SFC, 11/28/07, p.A3)
2007 May 1, John Hickenlooper (b.1952) was re-elected mayor of Denver with 86.3% of the vote.
(Econ, 11/3/07, p.39)(www.citymayors.com/mayors/denver_mayor.html)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people protested across the US to demand a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2007 May 1, Kenneth John Freeman (44), a bodybuilder and computer expert from Benton County, Washington, was arrested in Hong Kong. Freeman, who fled the US 13 months earlier, was accused of raping his daughter and posting a video of the attack.
(www.usmarshals.gov/news/chron/2007/050207.htm)
2007 May 1, The design for the Arizona quarter, chosen by Gov. Janet Napolitano, was announced. It includes a "Grand Canyon State" banner across the middle of the quarter, separating the canyon view with a multi-rayed sun above and a saguaro in a desert landscape below. The 48th of the state series will be released in 2008, followed by Alaska and Hawaii.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Australian police arrested two men accused of raising money for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on the pretext of collecting donations for victims of the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thirty people were arrested in raids across Belgium, England, and the Netherlands targeting suspected animal rights extremists.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, John Browne, head of BP PLC, resigned after Britain’s highest legal body triggered the release of documents detailing his relationship with a former lover. In 2014 he authored “The Glass Closet."
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/31/14, p.62)
2007 May 1, Britain's largest ever trade union, representing about two million public and private sector workers, was launched following the merger of two workers' bodies. The Unite union officially formed following a recent vote for merger by members of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers Union, founded in 1922.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_General_Workers%27_Union)
2007 May 1, China lashed out at the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for restoring diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Indonesia tens of thousands of workers marked May Day by taking to the streets to demand better wages and job security, amid a heavy police presence.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iran stood firm in opposing language in a nuclear conference agenda that reaffirms the need for full compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a stance that diplomats said could scuttle the meeting aimed at strengthening the accord.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Iraqi officials have received reports that Abu Ayyub al-Masri (aka Abu Hamza al-Muhajer), the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed by Sunni tribesmen, but the chief government spokesman said the information has not been confirmed. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that al-Masri was believed to have been killed April 30 in the Taji area north of Baghdad. Gunmen ambushed travelers on a highway leading from Baghdad to Shiite areas to the south, killing 14 people. Mortar rounds slammed into an area near the Iraqi prime minister's office in the US-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Liberia relaunched its diamond trade after the UN lifted an embargo, hoping the revival of the industry will fund reconstruction rather than lead to more bloodshed.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Macao May Day protesters clashed with riot police as a rally against labor shortages turned violent, sparking rare scenes of civil unrest in the southern Chinese territory.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, In Mexico 5 soldiers, including a colonel, and a suspected drug cartel enforcer were killed in a shootout in the western state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by drug violence and is the target of a military-led anti-drug offensive.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 1, The leader of Nepal's Maoists threatened to push the nation back into turmoil by launching huge nationwide protests unless parliament immediately ousts the king and declares a republic.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of people gathered in heavily guarded squares and stadiums in Nigeria's main cities to protest last month's flawed presidential election. Dare Folorunso, a Nigerian journalist of the state-owned radiotelevision station, was beaten unconscious by policemen at workers rally in Akure in southern Ondo state. MEND militants kidnapped six foreign oil workers, including four Italians, in an attack on a floating storage vessel off the coast of southern Bayelsa State. A Nigerian sailor was killed.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)(SFC, 5/2/07, p.C2)(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of laborers rallied across Pakistan demanding better wages and living conditions to mark May Day.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Thousands of South Africans marched in Durban to protest the renaming of streets after heroes of the ruling African National Congress, sparking warnings of violence in the Zulu heartland.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Turkish police charged into crowds of leftist protesters marking the anniversary of a deadly May Day rally in Istanbul, spraying tear gas and kicking and clubbing demonstrators as they fled.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, President Hugo Chavez's government took over Venezuela's last privately run oil fields, intensifying a struggle with international firms over the development of the world's largest known petroleum deposit.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 1, Zimbabwe boosted the price of corn meal, a keystone of the nation’s diet, by nearly 600%.
(WSJ, 5/2/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 2, In a defeat for anti-war Democrats, Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of legislation requiring the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Bush declared al-Qaida "public enemy No. 1 in Iraq."
(AP, 5/2/08)
2007 May 2, Cablevision Systems Corp. agreed to be taken private by the founding Dolan family for $10.6 billion in cash.
(SFC, 5/3/07, p.C2)
2007 May 2, James Abegglen, American-born chronicler of the rise of “Japan Inc.," died in Japan. In the 1960s and 1970s he warned corporate America that Japan should be taken more seriously. His 9th book was titled “21st-Century Japanese Management."
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)
2007 May 2, Afghan regional officials said that 51 villagers, some of them women and children, were killed in recent fighting in western Afghanistan. The US-led coalition said it had no reports of civilian deaths.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A former prime minister led his opposition party to victory in the Bahamas, returning to power in elections dominated by questions about the direction of the tourism-driven economy. Hubert Ingraham's Free National Movement won 23 seats in the 41-seat legislature, while PM Perry Christie's Progressive Liberal Party claimed the other 18.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said another case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, has been confirmed in a mature dairy cow in the province of British Columbia.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The grave of Hungary's last communist ruler, Janos Kadar (1956-1988), was pried open and his remains and his wife's urn were thought to have been stolen.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The Iranian state news agency reported that the country's former nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, has been arrested on an unspecified security charge.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A suicide car bomber struck in the main Shiite district of Baghdad, killing at least nine people as the US military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly complete. Three more US soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital. At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Kazakhstan’s Emergencies Agency said hundreds of dead seals have washed up on its Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total number of the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to 832.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Ahmed Errachidi (41) a Moroccan man sent home from the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay last week, was released by local authorities after terrorism-related charges were dropped.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, The International Criminal Court in the Hague said it has issued arrest warrants for the Sudanese government's humanitarian affairs minister and a janjaweed militia leader suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, A company spokesman said US oil giant Chevron has shut down 15,000 barrels per day of oil production in its Funiwa facility in southern Nigeria following a militant attack.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Romania’s Parliament approved an agreement allowing the US to use four military bases and station up to 3,000 troops in the former communist country.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 2, Russian oil firms rushed to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away from ports in Estonia after Russia's railways halted the route amid a political dispute with Tallinn. Young Russians staged raucous protests in Moscow to denounce neighboring Estonia for removing a Soviet war memorial from its capital, and the Estonian ambassador said pro-Kremlin activists tried to attack her as she arrived at a news conference.
(Reuters, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The South Korean government announced its first-ever plan to seize assets gained by alleged Korean collaborators during Japanese colonial rule as part of efforts to reconcile with its past more than 60 years after the end of the peninsula's occupation. 2 defectors to South Korea described how they had been tortured in a North Korean prison camp, as a South Korean rights group issued a report on abuses of detainees in the communist state.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Taiwan's opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou was nominated by his Kuomintang party to run for the 2008 presidential election and pledged to improve economic ties with China.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Thailand's military-installed PM Surayud Chulanont said he has tasked his southern army commander with developing a detailed amnesty proposal for Islamic militants.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, The US and EU warned Turkey's military to stay out of the country's political showdown between the Islamic-rooted government and those in the secular establishment who fear the country will shift toward Islamic rule.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Isaac Matongo (60), the chairman of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and former trade unionist, died.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, A US House panel called on the VA chief to explain why top officials got hefty bonuses even as veteran’s care deteriorated.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, A US federal judge barred planting of alfalfa engineered by Monsanto to resist Roundup, a popular weed killer made by Monsanto, pending further study.
(WSJ, 5/4/07, p.A1)
2007 May 3, The Florida Legislature gave its final approval to moving the state's 2008 primary from early March to Jan. 29.
(AP, 5/3/08)
2007 May 3, Ignacio De La Fuente Jr. (32), the son of Oakland, Ca., City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, pleaded guilty to 5 felony sex charges committed between 2003 and 2005. Three of his 4 victims were prostitutes.
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B5)
2007 May 3, James H. Simons, mathematician and philanthropist, announced a $10 million donation to Berkeley’s Mathematical Sciences Research Institute from the Simons Foundation. Simons is president of Renaissance Technologies Corp., a private investment firm dedicated to the use of mathematical methods.
(SSFC, 5/6/07, p.B7)
2007 May 3, In Alabama Jamison Stone (11) killed a wild pig weighing 1,051 pounds with a .50 caliber revolver. The pig measured 9 feet, 4 inches from snout to tail. The animal's former owner later said the not-so-wild pig, named Fred, had been raised on an Alabama farm and was sold to the Lost Creek Plantation just four days before it was shot there in a 150-acre fenced area.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 3, Dr. Leonard D. Eron (87), psychologist, died in Illinois. His research led him to warn society that children who watch violent TV shows tend to show aggressive and destructive behaviour later in life. He determined that aggression is learned behaviour.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B4)
2007 May 3, Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, died in La Jolla, Ca. From 1962 to 1968 he logged over 295 hours in space.
(SFC, 5/4/07, p.B9)
2007 May 3, A remote-control bomb hit an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing the driver and wounding 29 people, including 22 soldiers.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, African neighbors Sudan and Chad signed a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal in Saudi Arabia, requiring both sides to cooperate with the United Nations to stabilize Darfur and the adjacent region in Chad.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Australia signed the first in a series of contracts that will see its air force buy 24 Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter-bombers from the US Navy.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Voters handed PM Tony Blair's Labour Party a string of embarrassing defeats in local elections.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Madeleine McCann (3), a British girl, was kidnapped from her bed in a Portuguese beach resort while her parents dined nearby.
(Reuters, 5/5/07)
2007 May 3, Seven of Canada's biggest investment dealers said they plan to launch a new Alternative Trading System in 2008 to boost the efficiency of equity trading and make Canada more globally competitive. The Royal Canadian Mint unveiled a monster gold coin with a face value of C$1 million (455,000 pounds) that it says is the world's biggest, purest and highest denomination coin.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Forces loyal to the outgoing president of the Comoros island of Anjouan took control of a building housing federal offices in what one African Union official called a coup.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, A pair of heavily armed Cuban soldiers seized a city bus, killed an army officer and triggered a gun battle in a foiled bid to hijack a charter flight bound for the United States.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, Ecuador's new leftist government set up a truth commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses committed over the last 27 years, particularly during the right-wing administration of former President Leon Febres Cordero.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Egypt a conference of nearly 50 nations opened at Sharm el-Sheik to rally international support, particularly from Arab nations, for an ambitious plan to stabilize Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syria's foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the two countries in years. Hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across its border.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In France Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told a news conference that there is no reason why Iran should not have nuclear energy.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, US-led forces conducting a crackdown on al-Qaida in Iraq killed Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri, described as al-Qaida's information minister. He was responsible for the high-profile kidnappings of several Westerners. Gunmen stormed the offices of an independent radio station in a predominantly Sunni area of Baghdad, killing two employees and wounding five before bombing the building and knocking the station off the air. Police in Fallujah found nine bullet-riddled bodies, four members of a Sunni tribe that recently joined an alliance against al-Qaida in Iraq and five found near the tax office. Gunmen stormed a market in Baqouba killing a plainclothes policeman after a militant read a death sentence issued by al-Qaida and two Shiite men. They then killed a policeman after he arrived at the scene to investigate.
(AP, 5/3/07)(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 3, In Israel the campaign to oust PM Ehud Olmert shifted to the streets, with a mass rally in Tel Aviv expected to draw tens of thousands of people calling for the embattled leader to step down.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, In Nigeria at least 21 workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in separate attacks in the oil-rice delta region. 8 foreigners and a Nigerian were later freed.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, The Ulster Volunteer Force, an outlawed Northern Ireland group that for decades attacked the province's Catholic minority, renounced violence and pledged to disarm.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that US-based Texas Instruments Inc., the world's biggest maker of mobile phone chips, will build a $1 billion plant in the Philippines, choosing the country over China despite concerns about power costs.
(Reuters, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Russia lashed out at the EU and NATO for supporting Estonia in its row with Moscow over the relocation of a Soviet war monument.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Scotland held parliamentary elections. Labor was knocked out of the top spot for the 1st time in 50 years by the Scottish National Party. The SNP supported a future referendum on independence. The SNP won 47 of the 129 seats.
(AFP, 5/3/07)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.61)(Reuters, 2/16/12)
2007 May 3, Turkish lawmakers moved up elections to July 22, after the Islamic-rooted ruling party and its secular opposition agreed that an early ballot was the only way out of their standoff over political Islam.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 3, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned he will nationalize the country's banks and largest steel producer in an apparent bid to strong-arm the businesses to contribute more to local industry.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, US federal officials placed a hold on 20 million chickens raised for market in several states because their feed was mixed with pet food containing an industrial chemical.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, The United States said it will provide more than $14 million in security assistance to Kenya to boost efforts to combat terrorist activities in the east African nation.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, An Alaska lawmaker and two of his former colleagues were arrested for allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO Corp., a private oil services company, to pass a new oil-tax system.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Reuters Group PLC said that it had received a preliminary takeover approach. The bidder was identified as Thomson Corp., a financial data and information provider based in Stamford, Conn., owned by the Thomson family of Canada.
(AP, 5/4/07)(http://tinyurl.com/2m8qt5)
2007 May 4, Tornadoes in southwest Kansas killed at least seven people and leveled most of Greensburg.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 4, In Austria a standoff pitting Iran against most others delegations at a 130-nation nuclear conference deepened, with organizers adjourning the third straight session in as many days without breaking a deadlock over the language of the meeting's agenda.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Two Azerbaijani journalists were convicted and sentenced to prison for inciting hatred with an article criticizing Islam.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Brazil’s Pres. Lula da Silva issued a license allowing Brazil to buy or produce a cheap generic version of AIDS drug efavirenz, bypassing Merck’s patent. The compulsory licensing for efavirenz will allow Brazil to import unbranded copies at a quarter of current prices while paying Merck a nominal royalty.
(WSJ, 5/5/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/12/07, p.42)
2007 May 4, A British court found Frederick Chiluba, Zambia's first democratically elected president (1991-2001), guilty of stealing $46 million in government funds and ordered him to repay the entire sum. He had gone on trial in Zambia in 2003, accused of 169 counts of corruption, abuse of power and theft, but was declared unfit to stand trial on the grounds of ill health.
(AP, 5/4/07)(Econ, 11/21/09, p.51)
2007 May 4, A rebel spokesman said a Saudi-brokered reconciliation deal signed by Chad with its neighbor Sudan will not halt a guerrilla war by Chadian rebels aimed at toppling President Idriss Deby.
(Reuters, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Guinea soldiers protesting the government's failure to give them promised pay raises beat a shopkeeper to death as they looted his store and fired shots in the air, wounding at least 25 civilians.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, A boat loaded with Haitian migrants capsized while being towed by a police boat from the Turks and Caicos Islands. 78 of some 160 people survived. Haitian migrants later claimed a Turks and Caicos naval vessel rammed their crowded sailboat twice before it capsized.
(AP, 5/4/07)(SFC, 5/5/07, p.A8)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 4, A roadside bomb killed five Iraqi policemen on a patrol in western Baghdad. US forces broke up a Shiite militant cell believed to be smuggling an armor-piercing Iranian weapon responsible for an increasing number of American and Iraqi deaths. 16 suspected militants were arrested in the Baghdad raid. 7 bodies were found floating in the Diyala River in Baqouba. The bullet-riddled bodies of five police officers, dressed in civilian clothes, were discovered outside the city of Beiji. The US military identified two more top al-Qaida aides killed during an operation earlier this week targeting Muharib Abdul-Latif al-Jubouri. A US soldier was killed and two were wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. A roadside bomb killed a US soldier and wounded four others in western Baghdad.
(AP, 5/4/07)(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 4, Assailants in western Baghdad looted and burned the building which housed independent Radio Dijla, founded by Ahmed Rikaby in 2004. The attack came one day after staffers fought off some 2 dozen gunmen. Staff moved to new quarters in Sulaymaniya and within 9 days resumed broadcasting.
(SFC, 11/22/07, p.A25)
2007 May 4, The divided Koreas agreed to discuss historic trial runs of cross-border railways, as Washington cautioned Seoul against rushing to embrace Pyongyang before it takes steps to dismantle its nuclear program.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, In Somalia Mohamed Dheere, a former warlord, was sworn in as mayor of Mogadishu and immediately ordered residents to get rid of their weapons. Aid groups said 1,670 people were killed between March 12 and April 26 and more than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fled for safety as the government, backed by Ethiopian troops, pressed to wipe out an Islamic insurgency.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Delegates meeting in Thailand from 120 countries approved the first roadmap for stemming greenhouse gas emissions, laying out what they said was an affordable arsenal of anti-warming measures that must be rushed into place to avert a disastrous spike in global temperatures.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Ukraine's president and prime minister reached agreement on holding early parliamentary elections in a bid to end a political standoff between the rival leaders.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami met with Pope Benedict XVI for talks the Vatican hoped would help heal tensions left from the pontiff's remarks on Islam and violence, but the Iranian said the wounds were still very deep.
(AP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 4, The UN agency for refugees began repatriating thousands of Congolese refugees in Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 5/4/07)
2007 May 5, Street Sense roared from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2007 May 5, In Las Vegas Floyd Mayweather Jr. won his boxing match against Oscar De La Hoya in a 12-round split decision. A sellout crowd of 16,200 paid a record $19 million gate.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, Four suicide bombings struck Afghanistan, killing two policemen, as military officials announced more than 10 Taliban commanders were killed in major battles a week ago.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Belgium’s daily La Derniere Heure reported that prosecutors in Brussels, overwhelmed by the number of speeding fines imposed since fixed radar traps were installed, have asked police to let off all but the worst offenders, angering local mayors.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, In central China an explosion at the Pudeng mine, outside of Linfen city, killed 28 miners and trapped others.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, It was reported that China has 16 of the world’s most polluted cities. The UN said dirty air caused the premature death of some 400,000 Chinese each year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, SR p.11)
2007 May 5, Colombian officials reported that forensic teams have unearthed 211 bodies buried in dozens of mass graves near La Hormiga in southern Colombia in the past 10 months, a legacy of fierce fighting in this coca-rich land.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Al-Qaida in Iraq released a recording purportedly of its leader, who had been reported killed in recent fighting, branding the country's Sunni vice president a "criminal" for participating in the government. A suicide bomber, meanwhile, struck an army recruitment center outside Baghdad, killing 15 people, among nearly 40 killed or found dead. Residents and police in a Shiite area in eastern Baghdad said US helicopters fired on three houses, killing six men and wounding a woman and five children. The US military said a helicopter supporting ground operations in the area came under fire but did not shoot back. Two US Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 5, A roller coaster traveling up to 46 mph hit a guardrail at an amusement park in western Japan, killing one person and injuring 21 others.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A Kenya Airways jet with 114 people on board crashed after sending out a distress signal over a remote rainforest in southern Cameroon. The Boeing 737-800 was carrying 114 people, including 105 passengers, from 23 countries. There were no survivors.
(AP, 5/5/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 5, The 12 million people of Mali earned on average less than $400 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, The 3 million people of Mauritania earned on average about $530 a year.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.62)
2007 May 5, In southern Nigeria armed men kidnapped a Briton overnight from the Trident 8 oil rig. Unknown gunmen in Port Harcourt kidnapped a Russian woman who worked for a catering company.
(AFP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Prince Abdul-Majid bin Abdul-Aziz (65), the governor of Mecca, died after a long illness.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Hundreds of burly former militiamen from the Balkan wars regrouped outside a church in central Serbia, promising to fight together as a paramilitary unit once more if Kosovo breaks away from the government in Belgrade.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, Sri Lankan naval craft sank two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the island's northeastern coast, inflicting heavy losses on the guerrillas.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, In southern Sudan an attack by one tribe left 54 members of another tribe dead, mainly women.
(AP, 8/24/07)
2007 May 5, Tens of thousands of secularist flag-waving Turks rallied for the third big anti-government protest in a month as conflict rages over the role of religion in the Muslim country's politics.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, President Hugo Chavez said that Venezuela's largest steel maker, Sidor, will not be allowed to make any more exports until it meets domestic needs, and threatened to expropriate the Argentine-controlled company if it resists.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 5, A state daily said Zimbabwe has lost about 40 black rhinos to poachers who have killed the animals in some government parks and conservancies over the past 3 years.
(AP, 5/5/07)
2007 May 6, Carey Bell, Mississippi-born blues harmonica player, died in Chicago.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B5)
2007 May 6, In eastern Afghanistan a roadside bomb killed 5 police and wounded two others, while a clash in the west left eight police and at least four suspected militants dead. An Afghan soldier shot and killed two US troops and wounded 2 others outside Pul-e-Charkhi prison. The next day Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said the Afghan soldier was mentally ill. A bus crashed in northern Afghanistan, sparking a fire that left nine people dead and 25 injured.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Brazil Eneas Carneiro (68), a three-time presidential candidate who was later elected to Congress with the largest number of votes ever received by a Brazilian lawmaker, died of leukemia.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, Britain’s Home Secretary John Reid announced that he would resign from the government within weeks, just as Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is likely to take over from Tony Blair as prime minister.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Lord Weatherill (86), the last speaker to wear the traditional shoulder-length wig, died. He had ushered Britain's House of Commons into the television age.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, In Egypt a plane carrying foreign peacekeepers across the Sinai desert crashed near a stretch of highway where it had tried to make an emergency landing, killing eight French soldiers and a Canadian.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, French voters turned out in force in a presidential election offering divergent choices for the future, with conservative front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy urging the French to work more and Socialist Segolene Royal pledging to safeguard welfare protections. Nicolas Sarkozy (52), a US-friendly conservative and an immigrant's son, defeated Socialist Segolene Royal by 53% to 47% with about 85% voter turnout.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, A car bomb ripped through a wholesale food market in western Baghdad, flattening cars and shops and killing at least 30 people in the deadliest of a wave of attacks across Iraq that killed at least 95 people. A car bomb near the Ministry of Labor in Baghdad killed five people and wounded 10. Insurgents exploded another car bomb outside a police station in the Sunni town of Samarra, killing 12 officers and disabling the city’s water system. A few minutes later, militants in the town attacked a police checkpoint near the Askariya shrine, killing another police officer. US and Iraqi forces raided the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, uncovering a weapons cache, a torture room and killing at least eight insurgents in a gunbattle. In Diyala 6 US soldiers and a Russian photojournalist were killed when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle. Two American soldiers died in separate bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)(SFC, 5/7/07, p.A16)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A18)
2007 May 6, Two Israeli human rights groups charged in a report that Israel's Shin Bet security service uses torture in its interrogation of Palestinian prisoners, violating a 1999 court ruling outlawing such practices.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Italian news said a Vatican court for the first time has issued a drug conviction, giving a former employee of the Holy See a four-month suspended sentence for cocaine use.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Japan pledged $100 million in grants to the Asian Development Bank to combat global warming and promote greener investment in the region and called for a stronger international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, More than 18,000 people stripped down and bared it all in Mexico City's vast main square for US photographer Spencer Tunick's biggest nude shoot yet.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Pakistan's sacked top judge, declared the "era of dictatorship is over" to cheers from tens of thousands as he took his battle with President Pervez Musharraf to the eastern city of Lahore. In northwestern Pakistan a passenger bus veered off a mountain road and fell about 600 feet into a ravine, killing 21 people and injuring seven others.
(AFP, 5/6/07)(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 6, In Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region Islamic militants began confiscating music cassettes from public buses and ordering shops to only sell CDs promoting jihad in the latest push to Talibanize the lawless frontier region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 6, Palestinian militants opened fire near a children's festival at a UN-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza Strip, killing a bodyguard of a local Fatah leader and wounding seven other people. Palestinian militants shot and seriously injured an Israeli motorist who was driving west of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In South Africa Helen Zille, mayor of Cape Town, was elected as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA).
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.51)
2007 May 6, Spain's Supreme Court barred hundreds of Basque separatist candidates from running in regional elections later this month because of links to an outlawed party closely tied to armed group ETA.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, In eastern Sri Lanka a landmine detonated by Tamil Tigers killed three police commandos, while seven suspected rebels died elsewhere in the embattled region.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 6, Frank Hsieh, former prime minister of Taiwan, won the ballot of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), as candidate for next year’s presidential elections. Hsieh favored better relations with China.
(Econ, 5/12/07, p.44)
2007 May 6, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul withdrew his candidacy for presidential elections after Parliament failed for the second time to vote him into office.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 7, President Bush welcomed Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to the White House. He brought roars of laughter when he mistakenly started to say that the queen had helped the US celebrate its bicentennial in "1776," then quickly corrected himself to say "1976."
(AP, 5/7/08)
2007 May 7, In New Jersey 6 Islamic militants from Yugoslavia and the Middle East were arrested on charges of plotting to attack the Fort Dix Army post and "kill as many soldiers as possible." In Dec 2008 a federal jury found 5 of the men guilty of plotting to kill US soldiers. 4 of the 5 men were also convicted of weapons charges. All were acquitted of attempted murder charges. In 2009 three brothers, Dritan (30), Shain (28) and Eljvir Duka (25), were convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison. Mohamad Schnewer was also sentenced to life in prison and Serdar Tatar was sentenced to 33 years.
(AP, 5/8/07)(WSJ, 12/23/08, p.A3)(SFC, 4/29/09, p.A4)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A4)
2007 May 7, The DJIA rose 48.35 to a record 13,312.97. Nasdaq fell 1.20 to 2,570.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.C1)
2007 May 7, Scientists testing the beds of streams around Portland, Oregon, found the residue of the region's medicine cabinets and coffee shops. The list of compounds includes many known by such names as Prozac, Tagamet, Benadryl, Micatin, and caffeine.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum company, said it would make a hostile bid for Canada's Alcan Inc., estimated at $27 billion, after talks between the rivals failed to lead to a deal.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Afghanistan a rocket slammed into a street outside an apartment building in Kabul, killing one man and wounding five other people including a small boy.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, The African Union announced it would send an extra 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia but said dialogue remained the only solution to the bloody conflict in that country.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Australian gangster Carl Williams was sentenced to 35 years in jail for murdering three underworld rivals in a gangland war which lasted almost 10 years and killed 28 people.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In Austria a 130-nation nuclear meeting stalled for its sixth straight day after Iran refused to commit itself to a compromise meant to break a deadlock caused by Tehran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters as she returned to Bangladesh after the military-backed government abandoned plans to force her into exile.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Stylist and fashion guru Isabella Blow (b.1958)), a vibrant and often outrageous presence on the British fashion scene, died of cancer.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, State media said China's top family planning body has warned that the country could face a "population rebound" because the newly rich are ignoring population control laws and because of early marriages in rural areas. In southwestern China a bus plunged off a highway, killing 17 people including three children and injuring 24 others.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Hong Kong newspapers reported that an unidentified animal illness has spread in two southern Chinese cities, infecting at least 1,300 pigs and killing more than 300. The diseased pigs began dying in Gaoyao and Yunfu in Guangdong province following Chinese New Year celebrations in February. The illness, which killed at least 300 pigs, was soon identified as a strain of blue ear disease. Blue ear disease, also called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, was first identified in the United States in 1987.
(AP, 5/8/07)(SFC, 5/8/07, p.A17)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 7, Ecuador's foreign minister said President Rafael Correa has decided not to renew a 1993 bilateral investment treaty with the United States, which expires this week.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, More than 1,000 government delegates gathered in Bonn, Germany, to find ways to break gridlock in international negotiations on widening action to slow global warming. The UN urged far tougher action to fight climate change at the 166-nation climate conference.
(Reuters, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Two suicide car bombers attacked a market and a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramadi, killing 13 people and dealing a blow to recent US success in reclaiming the Sunni city from insurgents. A mortar attack also killed five people and wounded two others in Baiyaa, a religiously mixed neighborhood in western Baghdad. Four Iraqi troops were killed in separate attacks in Baqouba. The bullet-riddled body of a policeman bearing signs of torture also was found outside Kirkuk. At least 68 people were killed or found dead nationwide including the bullet-riddled bodies of 30 men found in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Israeli scientists said they found King Herod’s tomb near Jerusalem.
(WSJ, 5/8/07, p.A1)
2007 May 7, The owner of the Macau bank at the heart of a dispute over North Korea's nuclear disarmament said he is challenging a US decision to shut it out of the global banking system.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In western Mexico 4 purported drug smugglers were killed in a shootout with soldiers in Apatzingan, Michoacan state, the second deadly clash in a week between traffickers and troops in the same remote, mountainous region.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Nigeria's next president Umaru Yar'Adua departed on a tour of seven African countries, his first foreign trip since being elected in April. Oil major Chevron said it had temporarily shut down its Ebite flow station in southern Nigeria because of a community protest.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended a judicial inquiry into misconduct charges against the country's top judge that triggered weeks of nationwide protests.
(AFP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Russia’s state security service said fugitive Rustam Dzhumaliyev had evaded arrest and become a minor celebrity by masquerading as a US citizen hitch-hiking across the country for a record attempt.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, In South Africa Dina Rodrigues was found guilty of murder for orchestrating the June 2005 killing of 6-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton, her lover's baby daughter from a previous marriage. This was South Africa's first known contract killing of an infant.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, South Korea and the European Union started free trade talks aimed at linking Asia's third largest economy to the world's biggest trading bloc.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, Turkey's Islamic-rooted government, whose presidential candidate dropped his bid in the face of protests from pro-secular lawmakers, pushed for a constitutional amendment that allows the president to be elected in a popular vote rather than in a parliamentary poll.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 7, A large explosion in Ukraine knocked out of service one of the main pipelines which carries Siberian gas through Ukraine to Germany and other EU clients. Shifting soil led to a break in the pipeline.
(AP, 5/7/07)(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 7, Venezuela said it will not allow US agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the country, accusing the US Drug Enforcement Administration of being a "new cartel" that aids traffickers.
(AP, 5/7/07)
2007 May 8, The US hired a Florida firm to build a Guantanamo camp by next May to house fleeing Cubans should there be an exodus when Castro dies.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, The Pentagon announced that it had notified more than 35,000 Army soldiers to be prepared to deploy to Iraq beginning in the fall.
(AP, 5/8/08)
2007 May 8, Governors and environmental officials from 31 US states announced that they would create a national registry to measure greenhouse gas emissions.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A6)
2007 May 8, The SEC accused two Hong Kong residents of "widespread and unlawful trading activity" when they bought $15 million of Dow Jones & Co. stock ahead of an announcement that News Corp. was seeking to buy the company.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the nation’s first statewide living-wage bill.
(SFC, 5/9/07, p.A4)
2007 May 8, In Michigan Thomas Katona (56), the former Alcona County treasurer (1993-2006), pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges. He was accused of dumping public funds into fraudulent Nigerian investments. He lost more than $1.2 million in county funds altogether, plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that San Jose State Univ. planned to name its college of education after Connie Lurrie, the wife of former SF Giants owner Robert Lurrie, pledged to donate $10 million to the school.
(SFC, 5/8/07, p.B2)
2007 May 8, Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems. The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television Laboratories.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A new study found that US hospitals are charging uninsured patients about two-and-a-half times more than those with health insurance, a mark-up that has been steadily rising despite pressure to level prices.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A flood surge moved down the Missouri River and tributaries following weekend storms and damages approached 1993 levels.
(WSJ, 5/9/07, p.A1)
2007 May 8, Afghanistan's upper house of parliament passed a bill calling for a halt to all international military operations unless coordinated with the Afghan government, action seen as a rebuke of the international mission here. In southern Afghanistan suspected Taliban militants ambushed a NATO convoy, and a gunshot victim said soldiers fleeing the scene shot him and killed a man in a bakery. Airstrikes called in by US Special Forces soldiers fighting with insurgents killed at least 21 civilians in the Sangin area of Helmand province. One coalition soldier was also killed. The US military apologized and paid compensation to the families of 19 people killed and 50 wounded by US Marines Special Forces who fired indiscriminately on civilians after being hit by a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan in March. Residents claimed that over 60 people were killed by the bombing.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)(SFC, 5/11/07, p.A20)
2007 May 8, Algeria’s El-Watan newspaper reported that authorities have arrested 5 people believed responsible for organizing deadly terrorist attacks last month.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Amnesty Int’l. said in a report that China and Russia are supplying arms to Sudan that are being used to fuel the violence in the Darfur region in violation of a UN arms embargo. China and Russia quickly rejected the report and Sudan's government said it was "not justified." China confirmed it would send military engineers for a planned UN peacekeeping force to Sudan's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, It was reported that groups of elderly Australians are setting up backyard laboratories to manufacture an illegal euthanasia drug so they can kill themselves when they have had enough of life.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Austria officials said Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to raise money for the capital's main public library. Callers paid 53 cents a minute to listen to an actress read breathless passages from erotica dating to the Victorian era.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, News and information company Reuters Group PLC and financial data provider Thomson Corp. confirmed that they are discussing a combination of their businesses that values Reuters at more than $17 billion.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A survey showed that London beat the glamour of Monaco, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo to become the world's most expensive place to buy residential property.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Cuba released Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, a journalist who served 22-months in prison for participating in an anti-government rally. Guerra has been a contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as the US government-funded Radio Marti.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 8, An Egyptian court decided in a rare ruling that President Hosni Mubarak's order to try 40 of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood's top figures before a military court was not valid.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, The leader of France's defeated Socialists appealed for calm after a second night of post-election violence left cars burned and store windows smashed.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In India Mohammed Shahabuddin, a popular Muslim lawmaker from the state of Bihar, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on a charge of kidnapping with intent to kill a rival who disappeared eight years ago and has never been found.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Iran accepted a compromise on the agenda of a 130-nation nuclear conference, meeting in Austria, clearing the way for the meeting to approve it and end six days of deadlock that threatened to doom the gathering to failure.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, A suicide car bomber flattened a restaurant in a busy market in the Shiite city of Kufa, killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and wounding 70. A roadside bomb went off next to a passing mini bus in the Shiite area of Zafaraniyah on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, killing three passengers and injuring five others. In Jalula a suicide bomber attacked a police station as the night-shift officers gathered in front of the building, preparing to go home. The explosion killed two policemen and wounded 20 others. The bullet-riddled bodies of six men, the apparent victims of sectarian violence, were found with their hands and legs bound and bearing marks of torture in an abandoned field in Baqouba. Also in Baqouba, 12 gunmen trying to rob a bank were confronted by Iraqi police, sparking a gunbattle that killed one police officer and wounded another. An Al-Qaida umbrella group threatened in a video to kill nine abducted Iraqi security officers in 72 hours unless their demands were met, including the release of all Sunni women from Iraqi prisons. An American soldier was killed and four others were wounded in a shooting attack in Diyala province. 2 children were among five people killed when a helicopter fired at militants operating an illegal checkpoint and planting a roadside bomb near Mandali.
(AP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, The Moroccan Association of Human Rights, formed in 1979) announced that it had chosen Khadija Ryadi (47) as its first woman president.
(AFP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and President Pervez Musharraf agreed to strengthen security along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to contain the Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In southern Nigeria militants staged coordinated attacks on 3 pipelines in the wetlands region, the most damaging assault on the country's vital oil infrastructure in over a year. MEND claimed responsibility for the bombings, which forced Italian oil giant Eni to halt production of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) feeding its Brass export terminal. Militants released 3 South Koreans and 8 Filipinos kidnapped last week at a Daewoo construction site in the oil-rich south.
(Reuters, 5/8/07)(AFP, 5/8/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, In Northern Ireland Protestant firebrand Ian Paisley and IRA veteran Martin McGuinness formed a long-unthinkable alliance as power-sharing went from dream to reality.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In the Philippines a homemade bomb ripped through a billiards hall in Tacurong city, killing three on the spot and five more overnight with 33 seriously wounded. Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda-linked militants from Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 8, A newspaper owned by Saudi Arabia's royal family said one of seven recently exposed Saudi terrorist cells used Syria as a base for coordinating with al-Qaida in Iraq and held training camps in the desert of neighboring Yemen.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Serbia an ally of late President Slobodan Milosevic was elected as the new parliament speaker, signaling a return of ultranationalists to power in the Balkan country.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Taiwan rival lawmakers exchanged punches, climbed on each other's shoulders and jostled violently for position around the speaker's dais as the Legislature dissolved into chaos over an electoral reform bill.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, Thailand and the United States launched their annual war games.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 8, In Zimbabwe riot police violently broke up a demonstration by dozens of lawyers protesting the arrest of two colleagues outside the High Court in Harare.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 9, The NY Times reported on its Web site that Amgen Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are paying doctors hundreds of millions of dollars every year in return for prescribing anemia drugs which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Alfred D. Chandler Jr., American historian, died in Massachusetts. He helped establish the field of business history. His books included “Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the Industrial Revolution" (1962).
(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.A8)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.91)
2007 May 9, Afghan civilians fought with Taliban militants who hit a checkpoint near Sangin, leaving three of the attackers dead. A suicide car bomber killed two Afghans and wounded five when he detonated his car in the eastern Paktika province.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Police in Brazil and Norway detained at least 25 people in simultaneous raids on suspected criminal gangs, seeking evidence of money laundering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Britain’s Home Office, once called "not fit for purpose" by the minister in charge of it, was split into two in a bid to combat illegal immigration, crime and terrorism more effectively. British police arrested four people in connection with the suicide bombings that killed 52 bus and subway passengers in London in 2005.
(AFP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Chad pledged to work to demobilize hundreds of child soldiers fighting in the ranks of the government army and rebel groups across the conflict-torn central African country.
(Reuters, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, China ordered strengthened controls over its food industry after a series of health scares with international repercussions laid bare lax standards. A Beijing court sentenced a man to life in prison for taking nearly $500,000 in bribes while posing as a reporter, and sometimes a top editor, for the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, East Timor voted for a new president, choosing between a Nobel Prize winner and an ex-freedom fighter in polls critical to maintaining peace a year after the nation was pushed to the brink of civil war.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In the early hours Internet traffic in Estonia spiked to thousands of times the normal flow. May 10 was heavier still, forcing Estonia’s biggest bank to shut down its online service for more than an hour. Hansabank continued under assault and worked to block access to 300 suspect Internet addresses. On March 12, 2009, Konstantin Goloskokov, an activist with Russia's Nashi youth group and aide to a pro-Kremlin member of parliament, said he had organized a network of sympathizers who bombarded Estonian Internet sites with electronic requests, causing them to crash.
(www.lunchoverip.com/2007/05/estonia_under_c.html)(Reuters, 3/12/09)
2007 May 9, France’s interior minister said violence hit for a third night following the election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy, with about 200 vehicles torched by vandals and more than 80 people taken in for questioning nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In France Nayef al-Shaalan, a Saudi Prince, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail on charges of involvement in a cocaine smuggling gang.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Hundreds of German police raided the offices and apartments of left-wing activists suspected of planning to disrupt next month's Group of Eight summit, leading security officials to tighten border controls ahead of the gathering.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, US VP Dick Cheney and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing violence in Iraq, but both pledged their governments would continue working together toward a solution. A majority of Iraqi lawmakers endorsed a draft bill calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and demanding a freeze on the number already in the country. A suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior Ministry headquarters in the Kurdish city of Irbil, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens. Four Iraqi journalists were killed in a drive-by shooting near the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Gunmen killed two members of the minority Yazidi religious sect and wounded another in a drive-by shooting in Mosul. A car bomb exploded near an Iraqi military checkpoint in Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding two soldiers. Police found four decapitated heads in the Sabtiyah area north of Baqouba. The body of a security officer was found shot in the head and chest in Diwaniyah. 72 people killed or found dead nationwide.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Japan's Supreme Court rejected compensation claims by Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan in the 1930s and 40s, which included the use of biological weapons and a massacre in the city of Nanjing.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In Mexico gunmen opened fire on a naval commander in the Pacific resort city of Ixtapa and killed his bodyguard. Suspected drug traffickers attacked a military checkpoint in the Pacific resort of Huatulco. One attacker was killed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, In southern Nigeria gunmen seized four American workers overnight as violence escalated in the petroleum-producing region. South Korea's top builder Daewoo Engineering and Construction welcomed the release of its kidnapped workers in Nigeria and said the incident would not affect its lucrative business in the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Military officials from North and South Korea reached an agreement clearing the way for the first railway journeys across their heavily fortified border for half a century.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Pakistan and the Czech Republic agreed to boost diplomatic links and promote relations in trade, health and science.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, The Palestinian information minister said Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse look-alike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination. Hamas militants in Palestine had enlisted a figure bearing a strong resemblance to Mickey Mouse to broadcast their message of Islamic domination and armed resistance to their most impressionable audience, children. The show was broadcast as usual two days after the Palestinian information minister said it would be suspended.
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 9, In the Philippines Ernie Tatoy (41), an aide to a gubernatorial candidate, was fatally shot and his daughter (13) wounded, as violence in the run-up to next week's local and congressional elections claimed its 100th victim in four months.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Saudi authorities beheaded an Ethiopian woman convicted of killing an Egyptian man over a dispute. Khadija Bint Ibrahim Moussa was the second woman to be executed this year. The kingdom last beheaded two women in 2005. Beheadings are carried out with a sword in a public square.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, Authorities said Somali security forces are seizing and even burning Muslim women's veils in Mogadishu to stop Islamist insurgents disguising themselves for attacks.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, In northern Syria 7 people were killed and 7 were wounded when a 5-story building collapsed.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Pope Benedict XVI departed for a 5-day visit to Brazil, as evangelical Christians packed converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday. Benedict gave his first full-fledged news conference since becoming pontiff in 2005. When a reporter pressed Benedict on whether he agreed that Catholic politicians who recently legalized abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the response was "Yes."
(AP, 5/9/07)(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 9, Zimbabweans braced for darker days after President Robert Mugabe's government announced 20-hour daily electricity cuts for households across the country.
(AP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 9, A Zimbabwean court authorized the extradition of Briton Simon Mann to Equatorial Guinea on coup plot charges, sweeping aside concerns that he might face torture or invalid justice there.
(AFP, 5/9/07)
2007 May 10, The Democratic-controlled House, by a vote of 255-171, defeated legislation to require the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq within nine months.
(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, US congressional Democrats and the White House reached a deal on trade and labor standards.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.30)
2007 May 10, US VP Cheney arrived at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates to a red carpet welcome. The vice president is on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A US federal jury in Santa Ana, Ca., convicted Chi Mak, a China-born engineer, of passing submarine data to Beijing. Mak was later sentenced to 24 1/2 years in federal prison.
(WSJ, 5/11/07, p.A1)(AP, 5/10/08)
2007 May 10, Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa (37), a Sri Lankan national, pleaded guilty in a Maryland court to charges he tried to smuggle US weapons to Tamil Tiger rebels. He was the last of six defendants in the plot to be convicted of trying to obtain military weapons in the 2006 scheme.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Virginia the maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction. Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, In Afghanistan new airstrikes in the Sangin area killed 10 Taliban fighters after the insurgents ambushed a patrol. A Taliban commander said the militant group kidnapped Uruzgan governor spokesman Qayum Qayumi. 4 policemen and two more insurgents were killed when fighting erupted after a group of the extremist militants attacked a police post.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10-2007 May 11, Seven Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces were killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 10, EnGeneIC, an Australian biotechnology firm, said it had developed a means of delivering anti-cancer drugs directly to cancer cells, which aims to avoid the debilitating toxicity associated with chemotherapy.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Talks in Brussels between NATO's top generals and their Russian counterpart failed to narrow the gap between Moscow and the West over missile defense and arms control in Europe.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Brazil Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to abortion in his first speech but avoided further suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be considered excommunicated.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Britain’s PM Tony Blair said he would step down on June 27. The Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a quarter of a point to 5.5%, the highest level since 2001, to tackle surging inflation.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, China, criticized for not pushing its close ally Sudan to resolve the Darfur crisis, said that it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to focus on the issue.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In southwestern Colombia A roadside bomb planted by leftist rebels killed 10 soldiers on patrol, the deadliest attack on security forces this year.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta pledged to unite troubled East Timor after the former resistance leader was elected president of one of the world's poorest nations.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, In Cairo Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the first high-level discussion between Israel and the Arab world on an Arab initiative calling for an exchange of land for peace.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, The armed forces of Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to step up cooperation to boost security along shared borders after successful patrols in the Malacca Strait.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, US-led forces conducted a raid in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, killing three militants as they tried to break up a cell accused of smuggling weapons from Iran to fight US forces. Iraqi police and medical officials said the airstrike damaged three houses and killed eight civilians and wounded nine others. 2 gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Iraqi military intelligence officer as he drove through Diwaniyah. Iraqi police discovered two bodies, bound, blindfolded and shot, floating in a river in Mahaweel. Two other bodies of police officers, one of them a colonel, were found in Mosul. An al-Qaida front organization posted a video showing the killings of nine Iraqi security officers who were lined up blindfolded with their hands bound behind them and shot in the back of the head. An explosion in Diyala province killed one US soldier and wounded nine others. One US soldier was killed and two others were wounded when an improvised explosive device detonated on their patrol in eastern Baghdad. One soldier was shot dead in combat security operations in south Baghdad. Another, from the military police, died of his wounds after being hit by gunfire in Diwaniyah.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Guillaume Soro, Ivory Coast's former rebel chief-turned Prime Minister, called for the fostering of new era ties between Africa and Europe, in line with modern developments.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, Nigeria's Senate cleared outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo of corruption in the management of a multi-billion-dollar oil fund but indicted his deputy. In Port Harcourt gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their vehicles and killed two police officers.
(AFP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, The Pakistani military said it has completed building a fence on a first section of its border with Afghanistan, a disputed measure designed to prevent militants from crossing the mountainous frontier.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Palestinian woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy lost her unborn baby when she was caught in crossfire between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Kamal Labwani, a Syrian dissident who was arrested after meeting with White House officials two years ago, was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for contacting a foreign country and inciting attack against his country. His sentencing follows another in recent days against Anwar al-Bunni, a human rights lawyer, who received a five-year prison sentence, signaling a continuing of a crackdown by authorities against dissent.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A land mine attack on a convoy of Somali government officials ended in the deaths of two civilians in Mogadishu. Elsewhere, two aid workers were reportedly kidnapped.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, South Africa's common law was rewritten to classify forced anal sex with a woman or girl, previously considered indecent assault, as rape.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 10, Turkey's parliament approved a major constitutional amendment to allow the president to be elected directly by voters, a move that could fan fresh tensions between the Islamist-rooted government and secularists.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 10, A Vietnamese court sentenced 3 pro-democracy activists to prison after convicting them of spreading subversive propaganda, as the communist country continued its latest crackdown against dissent. Le Thi Cong Nhan (30), human rights lawyer, was released in 2010 after serving a 3-year sentence for advocating for a multiparty government in Internet posts. Nguyen Van Dai, a fellow lawyer who was convicted along with Nhan, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His sentence was later reduced by one year. Nguyen Bac Truyen, a member of the banned People's Democratic Party, was sentenced to four years. An appeal court three months later reduced the term by six months. Truyen was released on May 17, 2010.
(AP, 5/10/07)(AP, 3/8/10)(AP, 5/17/10)
2007 May 11, Speaking aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf, Vice President Dick Cheney warned Iran that the US and its allies would keep it from restricting sea traffic as well as from developing nuclear weapons.
(AP, 5/11/08)
2007 May 11, In California firefighters struggled to protect Avalon, Catalina island's main city, from a wildfire that forced hundreds of residents to flee on ferries as ash rained down like snow.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In California the high school graduation rate fell to 67%, a 10-year low, as the exit exam for basic skills was required for the first time.
(SFC, 5/12/07, p.A1)
2007 May 11, Austrian authorities said they have arrested 40 suspects and seized thousands of videos, CDs and DVDs as part of a yearlong crackdown on child pornography. Police in Italy made two arrests in connection with the investigation, which was code-named Operation Max. The server was located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and since has been shut down.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Sao Paulo Pope Benedict XVI canonized Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao (d.1822), an 18th-century Franciscan monk, as Brazil's first native-born saint. Friar Galvao began a tradition among Brazilian Catholics of handing out tiny rice-paper pills, inscribed with a Latin prayer, to people seeking cures for all manner of ailments.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Gordon Brown launched his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister, pledging to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war. Tony Blair has formally endorsed Gordon Brown to be prime minister.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, British private equity group Terra Firma swooped into the aviation sector to become the world's third-biggest aircraft leasing operator, snapping up US firm Pegasus for 5.2 billion dollars.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, Local militia allied to Rwandan Hutu rebels killed four Congolese soldiers during clashes in a volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 11, Germany’s steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG said it will build a new $4.19 billion steel plant in Alabama. Deutsche Telekom employees began an open-ended strike in protest at restructuring measures at Europe's biggest telecoms operator.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Authorities in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia launched a blockade of all ethnic Georgian villages in the province and demanded that the central government withdraw its police troops from the settlements.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In Guinea soldiers demanding pay raises spread their revolt from Conakry, seizing control of many provincial towns, going on looting sprees and killing at least two people in the second day of an uprising in the West African nation.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, In India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, a party dominated by the lowest caste (dalits) scored a surprise win in elections, while the country's ruling and main opposition parties both lost ground. In eastern India a bus plunged nearly 30 feet into a riverbed, killing at least 20 people and injuring 12. Three Indian officials working for a South Korean steel company were taken hostage by activists who contend that the company's plan to build a plant in eastern India would displace thousands of people.
(Reuters, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.41)
2007 May 11-2007 May 12, At least 31 people died as a storm hammered northern India. All the deaths were reported from the worst-hit state of Uttar Pradesh.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 11, Iran detained Kian Tajbakhsh (45), an Iranian-American working for the George Soros Open Society Institute.
(SFC, 5/24/07, p.A12)
2007 May 11, Iraq's Kurdish president said his country may need American troops for one or two more years. US-led forces targeting car bombing networks across Iraq killed four suspected insurgents and detained nine others in a series of raids. Two suicide car bombers struck police checkpoints near bridges in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people. Near Iskandariyah US snipers killed Genei Nasir al-Janabi in an effort to hide their presence. On June 30 Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley from Candler, N.C., and Spc. Jorge G. Sandoval from Laredo, Texas, were charged with the premeditated murder of three Iraqis. A 3rd soldier Sgt. Evan Vela, of Phoenix, Idaho, was similarly charged the next day. In 2008 Sgt. Vela was found guilty on all charges.
(AP, 5/11/07)(AP, 7/3/07)(AP, 2/10/08)
2007 May 11, Only around half of 45 oil exploration blocks Nigeria put up for auction attracted bids, with foreigners wary of political uncertainty ahead of a government change.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, North and South Korea adopted a military agreement enabling the first train crossing of their heavily armed border in more than half a century.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Poland's highest court struck down the key provisions of a new law requiring that up to 700,000 Poles with public service jobs be screened for past collaboration with the communist-era secret police.
(AP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Malietoa Tanumafili II, head of state of Samoa, died at age 94-95.
(Econ, 5/26/07, p.101)
2007 May 11, In southern Thailand separatist militants killed two policemen in a raid on a security checkpost, attacking it with guns and grenades before setting it ablaze with the victims inside.
(AFP, 5/11/07)
2007 May 11, Zimbabwe won approval, in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, to lead the important UN Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the US, European nations and human rights organizations. African members nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and tourism, for the post.
(AP, 5/12/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.49)
2007 May 12, Voters in Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, became the first in the nation to prohibit landlords from renting to most illegal immigrants. Texas courts quickly issued a restraining order against the city to prevent the ordnance from taking effect.
(AP, 5/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.35)
2007 May 12, Joseph Rattigan (87), former California state senator and justice, died. He represented Sonoma County from 1958 to 1966. In 1966 Gov. Pat Brown appointed him to the First District Court of Appeal in SF, where he served for 18 years.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.B5)
2007 May 12, Afghan lawmakers voted to oust the foreign minister over the mishandling of the expulsion of Afghan refugees from neighboring Iran. Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's most prominent military commander, was killed in a US-led military operation in southern Afghanistan. The one-legged fighter had orchestrated ethnic massacre and a rash of beheadings. Around 55 Taliban fighters were killed in two battles near the Pakistan border.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/13/07)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, In eastern Algeria 6 armed Islamist extremists were killed in Kabylia, in clashes with the military in the run-up to legislative elections. Algeria's official news agency APS said Algerian security forces had arrested three Libyan Islamic militants planning to join al Qaeda's north African wing. Algerian soldiers killed four armed militants in a clash near the village of Ghoumrassa.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Armenia held a general election. Acting PM Serzh Sarkisian was elected prime minister.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.58)
2007 May 12, In Bolivia President Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding over ceremonies marking the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A cutter of the Dominican Republic picked up 3 men hauling in bales of cocaine dropped from a plane that had originated in Venezuela. A US plane and British helicopters took part in the seizure of a half-ton of cocaine as Colombian drug traffic via Venezuela escalated.
(SFC, 7/2/07, p.A17)
2007 May 12, Egyptian security forces arrested 59 Muslims in Bamha accused of setting fire to Christian homes and shops the previous day in clashes over church construction that underlined lingering sectarian tensions.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Finland Bosnia-Herzegovina opened this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Marija Serifovic from Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, early Sunday May 13, 2007 with a song entitled 'Prayer.'
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Eric Damfreville, a French aid worker, returned to France after five weeks in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan and made a plea for his captors to free three Afghans seized with him.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Guinean President Lansana Conte agreed to replace his unpopular defense minister, a key demand of soldiers leading a three-day-old military revolt.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party, called for a "security agreement" to be negotiated between Iraq and US-led forces to outline the authorities of each side in a further indication of growing frustration over America's role in Iraq. Iraq's parliament objected to the construction of walls around Baghdad neighborhoods and called on PM Nouri al-Maliki to testify about other security issues. 4 Americans and an Iraqi interpreter were killed. 3 soldiers were captured south of Baghdad. The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. (20) of Torrance, Calif., was found a year later in the Euphrates River. The bodies of Pvt. Byron W. Fouty (19) of Waterford, Mich., and Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez (25), of Lawrence, Mass., were found in July, 2008.
(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/07)(AP, 5/12/08)(AP, 7/11/08)
2007 May 12, In Italy thousands of people, including families with their children, poured into a Rome piazza to protest a government bill that would give legal rights to unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Italy security officials from Europe's largest countries backed a plan to profile mosques on the continent and identify radical Islamic clerics who raise the threat of homegrown terrorism.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The leaders of Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan reached a landmark pipeline deal that will strengthen Moscow's control over Central Asia's energy export routes. The deal will dramatically increase the amount of natural gas Russia moves from Central Asia to Europe.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In Mexico a severed head accompanied by a note of defiance from organized crime gangs and two hand grenades was found outside a military barracks in Veracruz state.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A pregnant Nicaraguan teenager (17) shot Kenneth A. Kinzel (53), her American lover, and enlisted her siblings to help dismember the body. She shot her live-in boyfriend because he threatened to kill her.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 12, In Nigeria Lora Kabir, a Russian woman, set off with 50 volunteers on a 225-kilometer (140-mile) walk from polio-endemic Nigeria's most populous city Kano to raise public awareness among parents of the dangers of polio.
(AFP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Gunbattles and attacks killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens as Pakistan's political crisis descended into violence between rival parties over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the chief justice.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Waves reaching 36 feet high thrashed France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, leaving two fishermen missing and flooding homes and hotels.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Russia said that it could not accept elements of a draft UN resolution on Kosovo worked out by the US and EU nations, maintaining its strong opposition to a Western-backed plan for the Serbian province's independence.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and gifts blasted off en route to the international space station.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, The UN top humanitarian official made a landmark visit to Mogadishu, but the trip was disrupted by an explosion that killed four people near the UN compound. John Holmes said he had come to push the government to allow humanitarian aid to reach its people.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, A South Korean cargo vessel sank after colliding with a Chinese freighter in heavy fog in waters off northeast China. 16 crew were on board the 3,800-ton Golden Rose when it sank. The crew of the Chinese ship, the 4,800-ton JinSheng, were unharmed and returned safely to Dalian.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 12, Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang resigned, days after he was defeated in the ruling party's presidential primary.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, In the Turkish port city of Izmir a bicycle bomb exploded in a market, killing one and injuring 14 people on the eve of a planned mass anti-government rally.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 12, Yemen said it was recalling its ambassadors to Iran and Libya over what it sees as their support for Shi'ite Muslim rebels involved in bloody clashes with government forces. The government of Sunni-dominated Yemen accused the rebels of seeking to oust its secular administration and install Islamist rule.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, President Bush made a pilgrimage to the site of the Jamestown settlement in Virginia to mark the 400th anniversary of its founding.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, The US said it is willing to talk to Iran if discussions deal only with Iraq, where the Bush administration says Tehran is undermining the Baghdad government and exporting deadly roadside bombs. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said that Tehran has agreed to a formal request from the US to talk about security in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak toward the end of a regional tour, focusing on ways to stem chaos in Iraq and on Iran's impact on security in the Gulf.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A mother humpback whale and her calf were spotted in the Sacramento River. They reached close to Sacramento before turning around back to SF Bay as thousands watched media marked their wayward progress. On May 29 the pair reached SF Bay and the next day were spotted outside the Golden Gate.
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.B1)
2007 May 13, In Afghanistan 9 policemen lost their lives in fresh attacks. Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire at their rugged border in their most serious skirmish in years. Pakistan claimed it killed six Afghan soldiers, but Afghanistan said just two Afghan civilians were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Al Qaeda-linked Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a bomb killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Australia’s PM John Howard said the Australian government has banned the country's cricket team from touring Zimbabwe in September because he does not want to support the regime of a "grubby dictator."
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Canada won hockey's world championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland.
(AP, 5/13/08)
2007 May 13, Pope Benedict XVI held an inaugural mass for the 5th conference of bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean. This brought together 166 bishops to discuss the church's situation in the region, home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.47)(AFP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, German pharmaceutical giant Merck KGaA announced that it had signed an agreement to sell its generic drugs division to the US group Mylan Laboratories for 4.9 billion euros (6.6 billion dollars).
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Icelandic PM Geir Haarde's centre-right Independence Party came out on top in weekend general elections but it was unclear if his coalition government will stay in power.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Iran confirmed that it has detained Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American academic. A hardline newspaper accused her of spying for the United States and Israel and trying to start a revolution inside Iran.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A suicide truck bomber crashed into the offices of a Kurdish political party, killing at least 50 people, including the police chief, and wounding scores. Another bombing at a market in Baghdad killing at least 17 people and wounding 46. Iraqi gunmen drove into the Diyala capital of Baqouba, pulled two handcuffed men out of the trunk and shot them to death, one in view of a bustling market and the other near a movie theater. Three other civilians also were killed execution-style in a market in the city center. Five civilians were killed execution style on the streets of Baquoba by gunmen who appeared to be accusing them of collaborating with the US-led coalition. Gunmen apparently disguised as Iraqi soldiers broke into the house of a Sunni family at the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, killing two men and wounding four others, included a 6-year-old child. In all at least 126 people were killed.
(AP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, A Jamaican newspaper reported that Scotland Yard investigators have concluded that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and was not strangled as local police have said.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, Nigeria's central labor union called for a two-day mass protest against last month's elections, which have been roundly criticized by both local and foreign observers for fraud. In southern Nigeria at least 30 people were killed when three vehicles burst into flames after colliding on a road.
(AFP, 5/13/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Pro-government and opposition groups blamed each other for Pakistan's worst political violence in years, as new riots broke out and the toll from street battles in Karachi rose to 41 dead and over 150 wounded.
(AP, 5/13/07)(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 13, Fighting between Palestinian faction of Hamas and Fatah left 4 people dead in the Gaza Strip.
(SFC, 5/14/07, p.A7)
2007 May 13, A Serbian ultranationalist resigned as parliament speaker after only five days in the post, averting immediate fears that the country was returning to its warmongering past.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a group of Sri Lankan soldiers who had crossed into insurgent territory in the north, sparking a battle that left 7 guerrillas and a soldier dead.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, One of Switzerland's central bankers said further increases in Swiss interest rates are still on the cards, while also praising the management of the euro currency.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 13, A Syrian court sentenced four pro-democracy campaigners, including one of Syria's most respected writers, to prison terms as part of President's Bashar Assad's latest crack down on dissent.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 13, Hundreds of thousands of Turks streamed into this port city of Izmir in an enormous show of opposition to the pro-Islamic ruling party, saying it threatened to destroy the country's modern foundations.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 14, Pres. Bush ordered up new rules aimed at increasing automobile fuel efficiency and the use of alternative fuels.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, The trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla opened in Miami. Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted in August, 2007, of terrorism conspiracy; Padilla was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
(AP, 5/14/08)
2007 May 14, The cost of first-class US letters went up 2 cents to 41 cents.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Endemol, the brains behind reality television shows like "Big Brother", fell into the hands of a consortium led by Italy's Mediaset which is looking to branch out of the saturated Italian television market.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Charles Y. Lazarus (b.1914), the last of four generations to run the iconic Federated Dept. store in Columbus, Ohio, died in Columbus.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Lazarus)
2007 May 14, Algerian troops, stepping up assaults on al Qaeda's north African wing after suicide bombings last month, killed 13 Islamist fighters east of Algiers.
(Reuters, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, An Australian teenager was awarded record damages including a lifetime income after a court found that his life had been ruined by bullying at primary school. Australian authorities said they want to shoot more than 3,000 kangaroos on the fringes of Canberra, noting the animals were growing in population and eating through the grassy habitats of endangered species.
(AFP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Pope Benedict XVI returned to Rome after telling Brazilians a growing rich-poor gap is to be lamented, but that the solution isn’t Marxism.
(WSJ, 5/15/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, In the Central African Republic the president's office said several former armed rebels have surrendered to the authorities over the past few days in the troubled north.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, A Chinese rocket blasted a Nigerian communications satellite into orbit, marking an expansion of China's commercial launching services for foreign space hardware. The NIGCOMSAT-1 ceased functioning on November 11, 2008, due to a power failure.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 May 14, In Colombia judicial authorities ordered the arrest of 20 politicians and business leaders, including five congressmen, on criminal conspiracy charges for signing a 2001 pact with illegal right-wing militias. In the biggest shake-up in years of the security forces, Colombia's police chief and the head of police intelligence were forced to retire as the government alleged that police illegally tapped calls of opposition political figures, journalists and members of the government for the past two years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, Gangs torched houses and fought in East Timor, injuring around 14 people, as violence broke out following the nation's presidential elections.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers gave the green light for a 40-million euro aid package to the African Union peacekeeping force in the troubled Sudanese province of Darfur.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, EU foreign ministers decided to drop a visa ban against four Uzbek officials, while extending other sanctions against the Central Asian nation imposed after a crackdown on an uprising in 2005.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, German-based DaimlerChrysler said it will sell almost all of money-losing Chrysler to Cerberus, a private equity firm, for $7.4 billion, backing out of a troubled 1998 takeover aimed at creating a global automotive powerhouse. John Snow, former US treasury secretary, served as chairman of Cerberus.
(AP, 5/14/07)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.67)
2007 May 14, In India Dr. Binayak Sen (b.1950), a human rights activist, was arrested for conspiring with Naxalites in Chhattisgarh state. He was charged with carrying messages to the Maoist insurgents.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binayak_Sen)(Econ, 5/31/08, p.48)(Econ, 1/29/11, p.41)
2007 May 14, In western India a gas tanker, truck and bus collided, sparking a fire that engulfed the three vehicles and killed at least 30 people.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Iraqi and US forces also exchanged fire with gunmen near Youssifiyah during the house-to-house search operation for 3 missing American soldiers, killing two suspected insurgents and injuring four others. Gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in Baqouba killing three policemen and two civilians. Mortar rounds struck an outdoor market in Baghdad killing 3 people. In Suwayrah police dragged two unidentified, bullet-riddled bodies of a man and a women in their 40s from the Tigris River. A roadside bomb near the southern city of Basra also killed one Danish soldier and wounded five. 2 US soldiers on a foot patrol southeast of Baghdad were shot to death. Five US troops were killed in attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas, while another soldier died of non-combat related causes.
(AP, 5/14/07)(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Lebanon's prime minister asked the UN Security Council to impose an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on economic cooperation.
(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)
2007 May 14, In Mexico City gunmen fatally shot Jose Nemesio Lugo, Mexico’s new federal narcotics intelligence chief, as he was on his way to work at the Attorney General's Office.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 14, Nearly 60 former heads of state, including three ex-American presidents, demanded that Myanmar's military regime release Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In southern Nigeria's Rivers State unidentified gunmen snatched a Nigerian working for Italian oil giant Agip.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Pakistan militants opened fire on a group of US, Afghan and Pakistani military officials meeting near the Afghan border, killing one American and a Pakistani soldier. In 2011 it was reported that a Pakistani soldier had opened fire with an automatic rifle, pumping multiple rounds from just 5 or 10 yards away into American officer, Maj. Larry J. Bauguess Jr., (36) killing him almost instantly. Separately Karachi storefronts were shuttered and the streets of the commercial hub emptied of cars on as residents angry over a weekend of deadly political violence honored a general strike called amid growing discontent over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's ouster of the chief justice.
(AP, 5/14/07)(http://tinyurl.com/3hyzgoo)
2007 May 14, The Palestinian interior minister resigned, accusing Hamas and Fatah leaders of thwarting his efforts to halt new violence that is threatening the survival of the Palestinian coalition government.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Filipinos braved the threat of violence to choose local and congressional representatives in elections. Wahab Akbar, governor of Basilan, was elected congressman from Basilan. His 1st wife, Jum, was elected to become governor of Basilan. His 2nd wife Cherrylyn was already mayor of Isabela City.
(AP, 5/14/07)(SSFC, 9/9/07, p.F1)
2007 May 14, In South Africa deputies and experts attending the Pan African Parliament called for Western countries to help reverse the environmental damage to the continent that they had helped create.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Russia 10 people were found dead after a fire swept through a cafe in Orsk near the border with Kazakhstan. Prosecutors indicated they suspect arson.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian named his sixth premier in seven years amid paralysis in the island's relations with rival China and gridlock in its deeply divided legislature. The World Health Organization rejected Taiwan's bid for membership after Chinese officials accused the island of trying to strengthen its claim to sovereignty.
(AP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 14, In Tunisia Sfax port officials said the Tunisian coastguard had rescued 35 African would-be immigrants who were trying to sail to Italy from the Libyan coast. More than 1,000 people have landed on Spanish or Italian territory since May 10.
(AFP, 5/14/07)
2007 May 15, Kenny Chesney collected his third consecutive entertainer of the year trophy from the Academy of Country Music.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, Pres. Bush tapped Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as a new White House War Czar. At least 5 four-star generals had turned the offer down.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.A7)
2007 May 15, The US military said former Guantanamo detainees have organized a jailbreak in Afghanistan, kidnapped Chinese engineers and taken leadership positions with the Taliban. In southern Afghanistan at least 11 suspected Taliban and possibly dozens more were killed by airstrikes on Taliban compounds in the Zhari district of Kandahar province.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Associated Press reported that many VA officials who got hefty bonuses last year sat on the boards that recommended the payments.
(WSJ, 5/16/07, p.A1)
2007 May 15, Voters in southern Oregon’s Jackson County defeated a property tax measure to prop up the county’s 15 public libraries.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A5)
2007 May 15, Reuters agreed to a $17.2 billion takeover by Thomson of Canada that would vault the combined entity ahead of Bloomberg to become the world's largest financial data and news provider.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Tyco Int’l. said it has agreed to pay almost $3 billion to settle class-action suits brought by investors in the largest payment ever by a company in such a suit.
(SFC, 5/16/07, p.C1)
2007 May 15, The Rev. Jerry Falwell (73), the television minister whose 1979 founding of the Moral Majority galvanized American religious conservatives into a political force, died.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Karen Hess (88), culinary historian and author, died in NYC. Her books included “The Taste of America" (1977), which sounded an alarm for more healthful eating.
(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B5)
2007 May 15, Argentine commuters in Buenos Aires enraged by delays in evening train service set fire to parts of a railroad station, looted nearby shops and clashed with riot police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazil will push to improve working conditions for sugarcane cutters who harvest most of the cane that is turned into ethanol for the nation's booming biofuel industry. A jury voted 5-2 to convict rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura of masterminding the shooting of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, an American nun and rain forest defender on Feb. 12, 2005, in a case seen as an important test of justice in the largely lawless Amazon region. This ruling was overturned in 2008 after the man who confessed to shooting Stang recanted earlier testimony, insisting that he'd acted alone. Gunman Rayfran das Neves Sales was sentenced to 28 years in prison. In 2009 Para state's top court reversed the 2008 not-guilty verdict for Vitalmiro Moura on a technicality.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 4/7/09)
2007 May 15, PM Bertie Ahern became the first Irish leader to address the joint houses of the British Parliament.
(AP, 5/15/08)
2007 May 15, In Denmark hundreds of black-clad youths clashed with police in Copenhagen, barricading streets and setting fire to cars to protest the demolition of a building in the free-wheeling Christiania district.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Mohammed Sayed Saber (35). an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel praised the Jewish state for its advanced technology and claimed documents he passed on were so outdated they posed no threat to Egypt's security.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In India separatist rebels fatally shot six migrant workers in northeastern Assam state. At the heart of the violence is simmering resentment by Assam's indigenous people, most of whom are ethnically closer to people in Myanmar and China than India, against the federal government in New Delhi, some 1,000 miles to the west, and ethnic Indians who have migrated to the state over the centuries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Gulf Arab neighbors to send experts to inspect his country's nuclear power plant, in an apparent effort to ease fears over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Iraq’s Diyala province about 50 suspected insurgents attacked a village north of Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 14. Two bombs hidden in plastic bags exploded in shops in central Baghdad, killing at least seven people and wounding 17. A parked car bomb exploded near a market in a Shiite enclave northeast of the capital, killing at least 32 people and wounding 50. Hospital officials and wounded victims said chlorine gas may have been used in the attack, but police denied that.
(AP, 5/15/07)(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A top Mexican anti-drug official said the US must do more to stop weapons from being smuggled into the hands of drug traffickers who are using them to kill Mexican soldiers and police.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Royal Dutch Shell Plc. said protestors have occupied an oil facility in southern Nigeria forcing daily production cuts of 170,000 barrels per day.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Pakistan a suicide bomber with a warning to spies for America taped to his leg attacked a crowded restaurant in Peshawar near the Afghan border, killing at least 25 people days after a relative of the Taliban's slain commander was arrested there.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Hamas gunmen ambushed rival Fatah forces near a key crossing along the Israeli border, killing eight people in the deadliest battle yet in three days of factional fighting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, International observers of elections in the Philippines said they witnessed threats and vote-buying inside some southern precincts, and police said two more people were killed in violence related to the voting.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Russia's top AIDS specialist said Russia's AIDS epidemic is worsening with as many as 1.3 million people infected with HIV as the virus spreads further into the heterosexual population.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Serbia's parliament approved a new pro-democracy government, overcoming efforts by anti-Western ultranationalists to derail the vote and force new elections.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 15, A Spanish anesthesiologist with hepatitis C was sentenced to prison for infecting 275 people with the virus by injecting them with morphine from the same needles he used to feed his own addiction. Juan Maeso (65) was sentenced to 1,933 years in prison. The most he can serve under Spanish law is 20 years.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, Venezuela’s health minister said Venezuela will impose a limited smoking ban in bars and restaurants but has no plans to halt the production of cigarettes and tobacco.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 15, In Vietnam Tran Quoc Hien, a trade union organizer and member of Bloc 8406, became the 6th democracy campaigner to be imprisoned within a week.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)
2007 May 15, In Zimbabwe a spokesman said dozens of doctors at four of the largest state hospitals have gone on strike to demand higher pay.
(AFP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 16, Anti-war Democrats in the US Senate failed in an attempt to cut off funds for the Iraq war.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, British PM Tony Blair paid a farewell visit to President Bush at the White House.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, Paul Wolfowitz began to negotiate the terms under which he would resign from the World Bank.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, The DJIA rose 103.69 to a record 13,487.53. Nasdaq rose 22.13 to 2,547.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.C1)
2007 May 16, The journal Nature said that a bird count had found common US species, like robins, crows and bluebirds, in sharp decline due to West Nile virus. A US Geological survey in June found that populations of 20 common American bird species have dropped by half in the last 40 years.
(WSJ, 5/17/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/15/07, p.A11)
2007 May 16, In Algeria bombs killed a police officer and wounded five other people on the eve of parliamentary elections, prompting fears of renewed Islamist extremism.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, British army chief of staff, announced that Prince Harry would not go to Iraq because of "specific threats" to his life that would expose the prince and his fellow soldiers to unacceptable risk. The prince did end up serving in Afghanistan for 10 weeks, until word of his deployment got out.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/16/08)
2007 May 16, In Canada some 3,200 track workers at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. began a national strike over failed talks on wages and other issues.
(Reuters, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, went on trial accused of taking bribes to approve untested medicine, including an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market. Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to $780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety. He was expelled earlier this year from the ruling Communist Party.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northern Colombia Diana Patricia Pena (36) was abducted by armed men with her husband, Roland Erik Larson (68), at their farm. Pena soon escaped but Larson was still missing.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 16, Following a six-decade wait, Estonia's 3,000-strong Jewish community inaugurated its new and only synagogue in Tallinn in the presence of top Israeli dignitaries.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nicolas Sarkozy took office as France's president.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Haiti gunmen killed journalist Alix Joseph (38), shooting him 11 times outside his fiancé’s house.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 16, Indian company United Spirits bought Scottish liquor maker Whyte and Mackay for more than one billion dollars, emphasizing India's growing economic clout abroad.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In southern Iraq clashes broke out in the mostly Shiite city of Nasiriyah, when a militia fought with police there after they arrested two wanted militia members, police said. Nine Iraqis were killed and 75 wounded. At least nine apparent mortar rounds slammed into the US-controlled Green Zone, wounding at least six people, the second such attack in as many days.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris approved a decision to open accession discussions with Israel.
(Econ, 4/5/08, SR p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/2h2frt)
2007 May 16, An Israeli helicopter launched missiles at a Hamas command center in the southern Gaza Strip, after Hamas fired rocket barrages into Israel in an apparent attempt to draw Israel into increasingly violent Palestinian infighting. At least 19 people were killed in factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas.
(AP, 5/16/07)(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A12)
2007 May 16, Japanese officials said the landlocked nation of Laos has agreed to join the International Whaling Commission at Japan's request and is highly likely to support Tokyo's high-profile pro-whaling campaign.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed limited political reforms in the oil-rich country he has headed since the Soviet era, including shortening the presidential term from seven years to five and strengthening the powers of parliament.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Mexico over 40 armed men abducted and killed 4 police officers south of the Arizona border.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A3)
2007 May 16, Thomas Frank White, a US businessman, was convicted of raping a teenage boy and sentenced to more than 7 years in jail in Mexico. White, who founded the brokerage firm Thomas White & Co. in 1978, was arrested in Thailand in 2003 at the behest of Mexican officials and later extradited.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Nigerian militants used dynamite to blow up a home of vice president-elect Goodluck Jonathan, killing two police officers.
(AFP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In northwestern Pakistan suspected pro-Taliban militants firing mortars and machine guns attacked a police checkpoint, and at least five civilians were killed in the ensuing gunbattle.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond was elected to become first minister of the devolved Edinburgh parliament, after the pro-independence party's historic election victory this month.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, In Somalia a roadside bomb struck a convoy carrying African Union peacekeepers, killing four Ugandan peacekeepers in one of the deadliest attacks on the troops since they arrived in March.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 16, The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend its peacekeeping mission in Congo until the end of the year while calling for a timetable to gradually withdraw the nearly 18,000-member force.
(AP, 5/16/07)
2007 May 17, President Bush and retiring British PM Tony Blair held a joint news conference at the White House, during which Blair allowed not a single regret about the Iraq war alliance.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2007 May 17, The US White House and key lawmakers agreed on a sweeping immigration plan to grant legal status to millions of people in the country unlawfully.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US lawmakers branded China and Russia the world's two biggest copyright thieves.
(Reuters, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, US Navy lawyer Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz (41) was convicted in military court of communicating secret information that could be used to injure the US. Diaz had given a human rights attorney the names of 550 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A7)
2007 May 17, Paul Wolfowitz announced that he was stepping down soon as World Bank chief. This marked yet another blow for US President George W. Bush as his Republican administration nears its end.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, It was reported that Chris Cohan, owner of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, faced tax evasion charges by the IRS for potentially abusive tax shelters used when he sold Sonic Communications in 1998 for $200 million.
(SFC, 5/17/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, In Oakland, Ca., a mother and daughter were kidnapped and tortured by men associated with Your Black Muslim Bakery. Yusuf Bey IV, the group’s leader, believed the women could reveal where a local drug dealer kept his money. In October Richard Lewis (23), aka Rakeem Kahlil Bey, was arrested for his role in the kidnap-torture. On April 7, 2010, Lewis was convicted of kidnapping, carjacking and torture. In 2014 a state appeals court overturned the conviction and life sentence of Lewis, entitling him to a new trial.
(SFC, 10/18/07, p.B1)(SFC, 4/8/10, p.C3)(SSFC, 2/2/14, p.C2)
2007 May 17, The journal "Science" reported that Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, a crucial "carbon sink" into which 15 percent of the world's excess carbon dioxide flows, is reaching saturation and soon may be unable to absorb more , a deeply troubling development.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In southern Afghanistan 2 coordinated bomb blasts killed seven people, including three police responding to the first explosion. In western Afghanistan airstrikes in Farah province targeted a convoy of suspected Taliban militants who had left a meeting, killing 14 and wounding 10. In Kandahar a suicide car bomber rammed a government convoy, killing three bystanders and wounding Information and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Khurram.
(AP, 5/17/07)(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, Algerians, shaken by al-Qaida-claimed suicide bombings and dealing with a tough economy, slowly trickled to vote in legislative elections under tight police security.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Argentina leftist union members shut down the Buenos Aires subway system with a one-day strike, causing huge traffic jams as commuters drove, packed buses or struggled to hail taxis.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Greyhound Canada suspended passenger and parcel service in Western Canada because of a labor disruption.
(Reuters, 5/18/07)
2007 May 17, A Colombian warlord, accused of spearheading civilian massacres, claimed that some US companies who buy Colombia's bananas had made regular payments to his illegal right-wing militias.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Estonia's defense minister said that the massive cyber attacks that have crippled the high-tech country's Web sites are a threat to national security, and that it's possible the Russian government was behind them.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.65)(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The World Bank said that it and the European Commission and six other donors have committed $780 million to support basic services and transparency in Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy named Francois Fillon (53), a Gaullist former social affairs minister, to be his prime minister.
(SFC, 5/18/07, p.A3)(Econ, 5/19/07, p.56)
2007 May 17, Across Iraq at least 58 Iraqis were killed or found dead in bombings, shootings and mortar attacks. They included 42 bullet-riddled bodies of apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads. Three American soldiers were killed and another was wounded in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad. Mortar rounds hit a US Air Force base north of Baghdad, destroying one helicopter and damaging nine others.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas command center, a trailer housing bodyguards and two vehicles, citing the firing by militants of more than 50 rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot over three days.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In central Japan a man went on a shooting rampage in his home, killing a policeman, wounding three other people, including his son and daughter, and taking his wife hostage.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, The first trains since 1953 traversed the Korean DMZ in a peace gesture.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A1)
2007 May 17, Mexican police chased the remnants of a criminal assault force through the mountains of Sonora near the Arizona border after kidnappings and gunbattles that left at least 22 people dead.
(AP, 5/17/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.45)
2007 May 17, Moroccan police clashed with student protestors from Western Sahara demanding an end to Rabat's control over the disputed region.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Nicaraguan said it has re-established formal diplomatic relations with North Korea and rejected criticism of the Asian country's nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Nigeria labor leaders called a two-day nationwide strike coinciding with the May 29 inauguration of the new government to protest what they said was a fraudulent election.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Russia filed a suit against the Bank of New York for $22.5 billion for its role in a money laundering scheme that was broken up by US authorities in 1999.
(WSJ, 5/18/07, p.A3)
2007 May 17, Russian Orthodox leaders signed a pact to heal an 80-year schism between the church in Russia and an offshoot, the Church Abroad, set up following the Bolshevik Revolution. At least 10 of 145 Church Abroad parishes in the US opposed the canonical union. Most of the New York-based Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) agreed to unite with the Patriarchate of Moscow.
(AP, 5/17/07)(WSJ, 1/18/07, p.A12)(Econ, 10/18/08, p.69)
2007 May 17, In Sri Lanka said security forces had shot dead at least 20 Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka in a fresh outbreak of fighting.
(AFP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, In Ukraine Petro Balabuyev (75), a lead designer of the world's largest aircraft, the An-225, died.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 17, Analysts warned that a new pricing law approved by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, as inflation exceeded 3,700%, could worsen rather than relieve widespread shortages and price rises.
(AP, 5/17/07)
2007 May 18, The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for US troops to leave.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2007 May 18, US federal prosecutors asked a judge to immediately freeze the assets of former Qwest Communications International Inc. Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio, who was convicted last month of making $52 million from insider trading.
(Reuters, 5/20/07)
2007 May 18, In New Jersey a second rainstorm in three days soaked a forest fire and raised hopes that it could be brought under full control by day's end. New Jersey Air National Guard officials said one of their F-16s dropped a flare into the tinder-dry Pinelands during a training mission May 15, possibly starting the blaze.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Deep-sea explorers of Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration said they have mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed shipwreck off England. The estimated value was $500 million.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Microsoft agreed to buy online-ad specialist aQuantive for $6 billion, the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, Roy De Forest (77), prominent SF Bay Area painter, died.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.B7)
2007 May 18, The Taliban said it had arrested a close aide to the rebel movement's slain commander Mullah Dadullah for treachery that led to his killing. Soldiers from the Afghan army and a coalition led by the US killed 67 Taliban in an ambush in the eastern province of Paktia, near the border with Pakistan.
(AFP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, Algeria’s Interior Ministry announced that the National Liberation Front party, which has dominated Algerian political life since independence in 1962, kept its leading position in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, A group of 88 Burundians who have lived as refugees in neighboring Tanzania for up to 35 years became the first of some 8,500 to head to the US for a new life.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, UN officials said rebel leaders in the Central African Republic have agreed to begin sending several hundred child soldiers home to their families.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, China took steps to let its currency appreciate faster against the dollar and to cool its sizzling economy ahead of what are expected to contentious talks in Washington over Beijing's soaring trade surplus.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Alvaro Uribe lashed out at US lawmakers for treating Colombia like a "pariah" by refusing to pass a trade agreement amid a scandal linking his government to murderous right-wing paramilitaries.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Ethiopia 3 Swedish citizens were released after spending five months in jail. The three were among dozens of foreigners detained earlier this year as terror suspects.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, French President Nicolas Sarkozy named his first Cabinet, radically revamping the government, which included seven women among its 15 members. Bernard Kouchner, former UN administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders, was named foreign minister.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Haitian President Rene Preval declared a "war without end" against corruption, calling crooked state officials traitors who rob the deeply impoverished nation of vital investment and jobs.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In India a bomb attack at the 17th-century Mecca Majid, the main mosque in Hyderabad, killed 13 people. Two other unexploded bombs were found and defused by police. Ensuing clashes with police left five more dead. A serial killer who has been leaving headless torsos outside the Indian capital's jail for more than a year, allegedly in revenge for wrongful imprisonment, struck again. This was the fourth time since December 2005 that a torso had been left in a sack outside the Tihar Jail.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AP, 5/19/07)(WSJ, 11/28/08, p.A6)
2007 May 18, About 50 suspected insurgents attacked a US base in the center of Baqouba, sparking a battle with US soldiers and helicopters that left at least six militants dead. In Baghdad two Iraqi journalists working for ABC News were slain as they drove home from work. A suicide car bomber hit a police patrol in the Sunni-dominated town of Jurf al-Sakhar, killing three officers and wounding two. In Kirkuk drive-by shooters killed an Iraqi army officer as he was heading to work. A 24-hour curfew remained in place in Mosul for a third day. It was imposed after insurgents used five suicide vehicle bombs, mortars and small arms fire to destroy two bridges and attack a police station and a jail where suspected insurgents were being held. The attacks killed 15 insurgents, 10 Iraqi policemen, one Iraqi soldier and one civilian. US forces on a raid in northern Baghdad killed Azhar al-Dulaimi, a Shiite militant believed to have masterminded a brazen January attack in Karbala that led to the capture and killing of four US soldiers. 7 US soldiers died in Iraq; 3 were killed when their vehicle was bit by a bomb northeast of Baghdad, one in the western province of Anbar, one by small arms fire south of the capital and two by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in northwestern Baghdad.
(AP, 5/18/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 18, Israel pounded more Hamas targets with airstrikes for a 2nd day, killing four Palestinians. 10 people have died with dozens wounded as it stepped deeper into fighting between the Islamic militants and the rival Fatah fighters of President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Japan a former gangster surrendered after a shooting rampage at his home that left one policeman dead and three other people, including his son and daughter, injured.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Jordan's King Abdullah II made a new attempt to rally Mideast peace efforts as he hosted politicians and business leaders at the World Economic Forum. Politicians attending the forum warned of a bleak future for the Mideast if its explosive tensions are not resolved.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, Kazakhstan's veteran leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was in effect declared president-for-life in a move condemned by the nation's opposition as undemocratic.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In the Netherlands a 400-pound gorilla escaped from his enclosure and ran amok in a Rotterdam zoo, biting one woman, dragging her around, and causing panic among dozens of visitors before he was finally subdued.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf acknowledged that Islamic militancy was increasing across Pakistan and said tough measures were needed to counter it, as religious students from a pro-Taliban mosque abducted four police officers. Musharraf said that he would not allow his two primary political opponents to come back to Pakistan before elections, slated for this year. Dozens of gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying 8 government officials and kidnapped them in North Waziristan. Saud Memon (44), owner of the shed and land outside Karachi where the body of Daniel Pearl was found, died. Memon was found lying unconscious outside his house on April 28.
(AP, 5/19/07)(SFC, 5/19/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/21/07, p.A6)
2007 May 18, In southern Peru a backpack containing dynamite and nails exploded during a celebration in a market in Juliaca, killing six people and wounding 48.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 18, A powerful bomb ripped through a teeming bus terminal in the violence-prone southern Philippines, killing a 5-year-old boy and injuring about three dozen other people.
(AP, 5/18/07)
2007 May 18, In Russia EU leaders criticized Russia's human rights record, and were faulted in return, at the end of a summit that produced no formal agreements but helped illustrate the widening political chasm between Moscow and the West. Russia barred activists, including chess grandmaster Kasparov, from protests near the Volga summit.
(AP, 5/18/07)(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 18, The UN accused Sudan government forces of direct involvement in recent machine-gunning of Darfur villages that left at least 100 dead.
(WSJ, 5/19/07, p.A1)
2007 May 19, Curlin nipped Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense to win the Preakness Stakes.
(AP, 5/19/08)
2007 May 19, In San Francisco Scott Chris Thomas attacked Loren Schaller (15) with a knife at a Twin Peaks bakery. In 2010 a jury convicted Schaller (29) of attempted murder and mayhem. On Aug 5 Thomas was sentenced to at least 26 years in prison.
(SFC, 3/3/10, p.C2)(SFC, 8/6/10, p.C2)
2007 May 19, In northern Afghanistan a suicide attacker detonated himself next to German soldiers shopping in a crowded market in Kunduz, killing 3 German soldiers and 6 Afghan civilians with 16 people wounded. A district police chief and a bodyguard were killed in a bomb blast in the eastern province of Nangarhar.
(AFP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Algerian official news reported that security forces had dismantled a suspected support network linked to twin terror bombings last month in the capital that killed 30 people.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Two local health workers were kidnapped for ransom in the Central African Republic (CAR), prompting UN concerns that worsening security was hampering aid work there.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 19, China’s state media said an outbreak of a viral disease common in children has sickened almost 900 people in eastern China but the outbreak has been contained. The outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease began in late April in the city of Linyi in Shandong province. In southern China thousands of farmers rioted at a government office in Shabi township, Guangxi region, after authorities imposed heavy fines on families that had more children than allowed under the country's family planning policy.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 19, The ruler of Dubai launched a $10 billion foundation to provide scholarships and promote research in the Middle East, saying the region has neglected education despite its oil wealth.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Police arrested 14 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood as part of Egypt's ongoing campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, In Germany G8 finance ministers from the world's richest nations sought ways to improve financial management in Africa and were asked to scold China for lending too freely to African countries.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms entered a village east of Baghdad, rousted families from their homes and opened fire on the men, killing 15 men and one woman. Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army traded gunfire with Iraqi soldiers in southwestern Baghdad's Baiyaa district, killing one of the soldiers. In Tikrit police received the bodies of seven men killed in clashes the night before in Samarra. Outgoing British PM Tony Blair arrived in Baghdad on a farewell visit, and three mortar shells or rockets slammed into the Green Zone where he met with Iraq's leaders. One US soldier died from a roadside bomb south of Baghdad. Six American soldiers and their translator died in a bombing in western Baghdad. Another US soldier was killed and two were wounded when a blast struck their vehicle near Diwaniyah. At least one US soldier was killed and four wounded as insurgents attacked the searchers for 3 missing comrades with guns, mortars and bombs.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AFP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Japan's state and navy police raided a Japanese naval academy over an alleged leak of sensitive warship technology data shared between Japan and the US.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Assailants shot dead a police commander in a wealthy Monterrey suburb, the latest in a wave of killings of law enforcement officials across Mexico.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In southern Nigeria gunmen dynamited the front gate of a residential compound and kidnapped three Indians in an attack that left one Nigerian dead.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Islamabad hardline clerics holding four Pakistani police at a mosque won the release of four extremists after a tense day-long stand-off between armed police and baton-wielding students.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, In Gaza negotiators from the rival Hamas and Fatah movements reached a new cease-fire deal.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Romanians voted on whether to impeach President Traian Basescu, who has been accused of violating the constitution but remains popular among the public. Basescu, suspended on grounds he abused power, easily survived a referendum on his impeachment, with partial results indicating about three-fourths of the votes supporting the leader.
(AP, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, German Gref, Russia’s Economy Minister, told reporters that Russia will not allow indebted state companies to default. It was reported that more than a half-dozen journalists with the Russian News Service, have resigned to protest the new pro-Kremlin management's policy that at least 50 percent of coverage must be positive.
(Reuters, 5/19/07)(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 19, Miroslav Deronjic (52), Bosnian Serb war criminal, died in a hospital in Sweden. Deronjic, the top authority in the eastern Bosnian city of Bratunac during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, was convicted of ordering a 1992 attack on a Bosnian village in which 65 civilians were killed. He had been serving a 10-year sentence for war crimes.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 19, Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched to support a TV station aligned with opponents of President Hugo Chavez, whose government plans to kick the channel off the air next week by not renewing its license.
(AP, 5/19/07)
2007 May 20, President Bush welcomed NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer to his Crawford, Texas, ranch, to review strategy on a flurry of issues.
(AP, 5/20/08)
2007 May 20, It was reported that the US continued to pay Pakistan some $1 billion a year in reimbursements for military counterterrorism efforts along the Afghan border. Over the last 5 years Pakistan has received $5.6 billion. Payments averaged $80 million a month.
(SSFC, 5/20/07, p.A6)
2007 May 20, In Idaho law enforcement officers stormed a church in Moscow where Jason Hamilton (36) went after wounding three in a courthouse ambush where he faced mental evaluation. Hamilton killed his wife at home and sexton Paul Bauer at the church before taking his own life. An officer who was shot responding to a gunman spraying bullets at a courthouse died of his injuries.
(AP, 5/20/07)(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A5)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.A3)
2007 May 20, San Francisco’s 96th annual Bay to Breakers race drew some 60,000 runners. Joe Spinale (53) died of a heart attack after crossing the finish line.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.B1)(SFC, 5/22/07, p.B2)
2007 May 20, Alltel Corp., the fifth-biggest US wireless company and owner of the nation's largest geographic network, announced that it had signed an agreement to be acquired by TPG Capital, formerly Texas Pacific Group, and GS Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs in a deal worth $27.5 billion.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, In eastern Afghanistan a suicide bomber on foot detonated himself in a crowded market just after a US convoy drove by, killing at least 14 people and wounding 31. Suspected insurgents ambushed a US-led coalition and Afghan patrol, sparking a battle and airstrikes that killed 25 suspected insurgents in Helmand province. A suicide bomber walked into a crowded market in the eastern city of Gardez and blew himself up, killing 14 people and wounding 31. In eastern Nangarhar province, a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in the district of Dara-I-Nur, killing two policemen and wounding seven others. A British soldier died of wounds from an accident at a British military base in Sangin.
(AP, 5/20/07)(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Confessed Australian al-Qaida supporter David Hicks was transferred to a maximum security prison in his hometown after spending more than five years at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Fiona Dawson, managing director of the Mars snack food business in Britain, apologized for a widely mocked decision to use animal products in chocolate bars and said in future its candy would be suitable for vegetarians.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, An exit poll showed that Bulgaria's ruling Socialist party won the country's first elections for the European Parliament with 23.9% of votes, despite voter frustration with rampant corruption and poverty.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, China’s state press said that pollution and the excessive use of chemicals in foodstuffs are sending national cancer rates soaring. 20 Chinese women were killed and 4 injured when a 3-wheeled tractor overturned on a mountain road in northern Liaoning province.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Jose Ramos-Horta was sworn in as East Timor's president as violence erupted in the capital between rival groups, leaving one person dead.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Guram Sharadze (67), the leader of a Georgian opposition movement, was gunned down on a street in a central part of the capital, Tbilisi.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Germany engineering concern Siemens said Peter Loescher, from US pharmaceutical giant Merck, will take over as chief executive from July 1.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hungary’s PM Ferenc Gyurcsany said that the justice minister resigned and the national and Budapest police chiefs were dismissed in an effort to restore public confidence in the force after cases accusing officers of rape, corruption and theft.
(AP, 5/21/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.51)
2007 May 20, A suicide bomber exploded a tanker truck near an Iraqi police checkpoint outside a market west of Baghdad, killing at least two officers and injuring nine people. A bomb planted under a parked car exploded in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Bab al-Sharji, near the Zahraa Shiite mosque. The blast killed two civilians, wounded 10. A mortar shell landed in a commercial area in central Baghdad, killing one person and wounding three.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said his government would offer a counterproposal to an Arab peace initiative to resolve the conflict with Palestinians. Israeli warplanes fired missiles into a car carrying Hamas militants and a load of weapons, killing 3 people, and also demolished arms factories of 2 Palestinian militant groups.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In Kenya 6 men were beheaded over the weekend in villages on the outskirts of Nairobi. This came weeks after members of the Mungiki sect fought with the police over control of minibus terminals, where they have been extorting money from drivers. 7 people were soon arrested in connection with the beheadings.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 20, Kuwait broke ranks with the US dollar and decided to track a basket of currencies. It was estimated that the dollar still accounted for 70% of the basket.
(Econ, 11/24/07, p.75)(http://tinyurl.com/2wojz3)
2007 May 20, Lebanese tanks pounded a militant group's headquarters in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli after the northern city's worst clashes in two decades killed 13 soldiers and 17 militants. The raid that triggered the clashes was part of a police search for suspects in a bank robbery a day earlier in Amyoun, a town southeast of Tripoli. Gunmen of the radical jihadist faction known as Fatah al-Islam made off with $125,000 in cash in the robbery. The siege lasted 106 days leaving 47 civilians, 167 Lebanese soldiers and some 287 guerrillas dead.
(AP, 5/20/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.47)(Econ, 5/10/08, p.57)
2007 May 20, Police in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara arrested three leading human rights campaigners following weeks of crackdowns against students and activists in the territory.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 20, Officials said Nigeria's largest state has sued US drug firm Pfizer for allegedly using 200 children as "guinea pigs" for a drug test in 1996 that led to multiple deaths and deformities. In 2010 a leaked WikiLeaks cable said Pfizer hired investigators to unearth evidence of corruption against Nigeria’s former attorney general Michael Aondoakaa to persuade him to drop legal action over the company’s experimental antibiotic, Trovan.
(AFP, 5/20/07)(SSFC, 12/12/10, p.A4)
2007 May 20, In Pakistan hardline clerics said that they had released two policemen held hostage at an Islamabad mosque, after a deal was struck with authorities to free 4 extremists.
(AFP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Moscow’s main broadcast facility to protest what they called lies and censorship on TV stations that are either controlled by the state or under its influence.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, A bomb detonated in Mogadishu near the mayor's vehicle convoy, leaving at least two civilians dead. His bodyguards shot and killed a suspected insurgent who had been in a tree near the explosion.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Sri Lanka's government claimed to have killed more than 500 rebels in the past four months and lost 44 of its own soldiers in fierce fighting that has completely shattered the island nation's peace process.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, In southern Thailand suspected Muslim insurgents shot and killed two Buddhist civilians and wounded a third, while a bomb wounded 11 people, including five policemen.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Thousands of flag-waving Turks demonstrated in the Black Sea port city of Samsun against the Islamic-rooted government, which they fear is undermining Turkey's secular system.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 20, Vietnam elected a new National Assembly. Vietnam's communist party won more than 91% of seats in elections for the new national assembly, which will consist of 493 members.
(Econ, 5/19/07, p.45)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 21, US Democratic presidential hopeful Joseph Biden called for US troops to help quell the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, drawing a strong rebuke from Sudan's UN envoy.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in the United States for two days of talks that will spotlight tensions over US trade deficits with the Asian export giant. A Chinese state fund that is buying a $3 billion stake in US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP wants to avoid political backlashes when it makes other investments abroad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Bill Richardson, Gov. of New Mexico, officially joined the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, The US Supreme Court ruled that parents don't need to hire a lawyer to sue public school districts over their children's special education needs.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2007 May 21, The US Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert for the diabetes drug Avandia, marketed by GlaxoSmithKline, which disputed a report saying it was linked to a greater risk of heart attack. A doctor in Maryland had linked Avandia to congestive heart failure in 2000, but GlaxoSmithKline rejected her warning and tried to stop her from talking about it with other doctors and hospitals.
(AP, 5/21/08)(WSJ, 11/19/08, p.B6)
2007 May 21, Florida set its 2008 presidential primary for January 29.
(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, It was reported that California’s spending trends would have the prison budget overtake spending on state universities in five years.
(SFC, 5/21/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Afghanistan's lower house of parliament voted to oust an outspoken female lawmaker who has enraged former mujahedeen fighters now in President Hamid Karzai's US-backed government. Malalai Joya (29) had compared parliament to a stable full of animals in a recent TV interview. A parliament rule known as Article 70 forbids lawmakers from criticizing one another.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Mining giant Rio Tinto and energy powerhouse BP announced plans for a $1.5 billion coal-fired power project in Australia which would capture carbon dioxide to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, The presidents of Belarus and Iran sought to cement ties that the Belarusian leader called "a strategic partnership." Belarus will develop an oil field in Iran under an agreement announced by President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit by Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Greenwich, England, a spectacular fire heavily damaged the clipper ship Cutty Sark, one of London's proudest relics of the 19th century tea trade with China designed to be the fastest ship of its day. Cutty Sark left London on its first voyage on Feb. 16, 1870, proceeding around Cape Hope to Shanghai 3 1/2 months later. The ship made only eight voyages to China in the tea trade, as steam ships replaced sail on the high seas.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Chile Pres. Michelle Bachelet apologized for failing to fix her capital's public bus system and promised to raise education spending by hundreds of millions of dollars.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile government killed one person and wounded another after their convoy was targeted by a land mine in Mogadishu. Two Ethiopian rebel groups, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), said they have killed 157 troops in the east of the country this month.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Indar Jit Rikhye (86), Indian peacekeeper, died. In 1970 he set up the Int’l. Peace Academy in NYC to train military officers and diplomats in simulated conflicts.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.99)(www.ipacademy.org/our-work)
2007 May 21, Iran charged Haleh Esfandiari, a jailed Iranian-American academic, with setting up a network to overthrow the Islamic establishment, the government announced. Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, has been held at Tehran's notorious Evin Prison since early May.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Gunmen in two cars attacked a minibus outside Hibhib, Diyala Province, killing 7 passengers, including a child. In western Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded near a group of Iraqi soldiers patrolling the Sunni-dominated Adil neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing three of the soldiers and injuring two. The Iraqi newspaper Azzaman reported that one of its reporters, Ali Khalil (22), was kidnapped while leaving a relative's house in the increasingly volatile Baiyaa neighborhood of Baghdad and found dead several hours later. Two gunmen killed two police officers as they walked by the police station in Muqdadiyah. In Basra gunmen killed one police officer and wounding another in an attack on their patrol. A British soldier and a civilian driver were killed when a supply convoy was attacked in the center of Basra.
(AP, 5/21/07)(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Israel pushed ahead with its campaign against Palestinian rocket squads, pounding the Gaza Strip with new airstrikes that killed five militants. A rocket from Gaza killed an Israeli woman.
(AP, 5/21/07)(WSJ, 5/22/07, p.A1)
2007 May 21, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Sweden, kicking off a 10-day tour of Europe that will take in the three Baltic nations and Britain, where they have faced protests in the past.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Kazakhstan's Pres. Nazarbayev (66) approved a constitutional amendment that waives presidential term limits and allows him to seek the top post indefinitely.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.42)
2007 May 21, Lebanese troops pounded a Palestinian refugee camp with artillery and tank fire for a second day, raising huge palls of smoke as they battled a militant group suspected of ties to al-Qaida in the worst eruption of violence since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Norway said it would make its first transfer of direct aid to the Palestinians' new government, more than two months after the Nordic country broke with most Western nations by recognizing the Hamas-led coalition.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Pakistan radical Islamist students kidnapped three policemen in Islamabad, creating a second tense police hostage stand-off.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, and vowed to boost legitimate trade and to strengthen cross-border cooperation in fighting smuggling in the Triple Border.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, Polish doctors launched a nationwide open-ended strike, demanding a pay raise amid complaints that the health system is underfunded and medical professionals are overworked.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 21, In northern Sri Lanka 6 people were killed during deepening fighting between government soldiers and separatist rebels.
(AP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 21, In Tanzania the appeals court of the UN-backed Rwandan genocide tribunal upheld a life sentence for Mika Muhimana (57), convicted on multiple counts of rape and murder. Muhimana, a Hutu, was accused of involvement in the rape of nearly 30 women from the minority Tutsi tribe during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
(AFP, 5/21/07)
2007 May 22, The US and China opened a new round of high-level economic talks with the Bush administration pushing for concrete results and China saying efforts to politicize trade disagreements would be a mistake.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Two-time Olympic gold medalist speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno and his professional dance partner, Julianne Hough, won ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
(AP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 22, Silas Rondeau, Brazil's mines and energy minister, resigned amid accusations he was bribed by a construction company that obtained contracts to provide electricity to poor rural areas in a program championed by the nation's first working class president.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, Prosecutors in London accused Andrei Lugovoi, a former KGB agent, of murder in the radioactive poisoning of fellow ex-operative Alexander Litvinenko and sought his extradition from Russia. The Russian prosecutor-general's office said it will not turn over Lugovoi to British authorities.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Cambodian PM Hun Sen met with junta head Senior General Than Shwe in military-ruled Myanmar, as the two nations moved to improve tourism links.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The International Criminal Court prosecutor announced a war crimes investigation into hundreds of rapes and other violations in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. The UN condemned the capture of two aid workers in the north-west of the CAR, saying the worsening security was hampering its humanitarian work in the country.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Guatemala ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions, an international adoption treaty, committing to bring adoptions under government regulation and make sure babies are not bought or stolen.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 22, In India streets were deserted and shops closed across the northern state of Punjab after Sikh leaders called a general strike in the wake of a clashes with a quasi-religious sect that have left one person dead. The Akali Dal, the Sikh’s main political party, encouraged protests against the Dera Sacha Sauda, a powerful group that had supported Congress in state assembly elections.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.43)
2007 May 22, Iran jumped gasoline prices 25% in a new blow to consumers already disgruntled over high inflation, and the government said it will begin rationing fuel in two weeks. By November inflation was running at 16%.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.56)
2007 May 22, A car bomb exploded at an outdoor market in a Shiite area of Baghdad, killing 25 people and wounding at least 60. Gunmen in two cars drove through the nearby Khadra neighborhood and ambushed a civilian car carrying three plainclothes police from the major crimes unit, killing two and wounding the third. A police officer was killed when a roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol driving through eastern Baghdad. Gunmen disguised as soldiers set up a fake checkpoint and stopped a minibus bringing college students to the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. The militants killed 8 of the students and wounded three others. At another fake checkpoint near Baqouba gunmen killed six people from one family, a woman, her 5-year-old son and four men and stole their car. 2 mortar shells slammed into a teacher's college affiliated with Baghdad University, killing three students and injuring seven. In the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, a sniper shot two civilians, killing one and wounding the other. At least 100 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide. They included 33 people found shot execution-style, presumably by sectarian death squads, and their bodies scattered across Baghdad. US soldiers and two Marines were killed in separate attacks. A US soldiers was killed in a roadside bomb attack near Tikrit.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AP, 5/23/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 22, Israeli aircraft struck two camps used by the Islamic militant group Hamas, a day after a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli woman. Officials suggested even Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas could be a target.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, In Lebanon a convoy of UN relief supplies was hit in renewed fighting as it tried to enter the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared. At least 15 civilians were left dead or wounded. Lebanon asked the US for $280 million in military assistance.
(AP, 5/22/07)(WSJ, 5/23/07, p.A1)
2007 May 22, The UN's top refugee official arrived in Nepal for a visit aimed at resolving the fate of around 100,000 refugees from Bhutan stuck in Nepal for 16 years.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships attacked a militant training camp near the Afghan border, killing at least four suspected militants.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, The Philippine elections commission suspended the vote count from last week's polls in southern Maguindanao province amid allegations of massive cheating by pro-government supporters.
(AP, 5/22/07)
2007 May 22, South African lawmakers passed amended legislation to broaden the definition of rape in a country with sky-high rates of sex crimes and HIV/AIDS. The heaviest snowfalls in 20 years blocked major highways, as a severe cold snap tightened its grip on South Africa. At least 17 deaths, mostly in Eastern Cape province, were blamed on the cold weather.
(AP, 5/22/07)(AFP, 5/22/07)(SFC, 5/26/07, p.B6)
2007 May 22, Guven Akkus (28), a suicide bomber, carried out an attack that killed six people and injured dozens in Ankara, using methods similar to those of a Kurdish rebel group. Akkus had spent two years in prison for hanging illegal posters and resisting police.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, President Bush, speaking at the US Coast Guard commencement, portrayed the Iraq war as a battle between the US and al-Qaida and contended that Osama bin Laden was setting up a terrorist cell in Iraq to strike targets in America.
(AP, 5/23/08)
2007 May 23, Jordin Sparks (17) of Glendale, Ariz., was crowned the newest and youngest "American Idol."
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, The California Energy Commission announced rules that barred municipal utilities from signing new contracts with coal-fired power plants. Coal generated about 20% of the state’s electricity.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A17)
2007 May 23, A conservation group said dozens of European mammals faced extinction unless immediate measures are taken to protect them. 35 of the continent’s 231 mammal species fell into the threatened category.
(SFC, 5/23/07, p.A7)
2007 May 23, A bomb in northern Afghanistan killed a Finnish soldier and an Afghan civilian, while a suicide attacker in Kabul killed two people, including a policeman. Two operations in southern Afghanistan killed 18 suspected militants, including seven "foreigners," while six people died when a stash of ammunition exploded in the east.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Australian PM John Howard and his Greek counterpart Kostas Karamanlis sealed a deal which concluded a decades-long debate over pensions for one of the world's largest expatriate Greek communities.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Belarus lawmakers backed legislation stripping hundreds of thousands of disabled and retired people and students of social benefits and other state payments.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The High Court in London upheld a ruling letting families return to their Indian Ocean island homes, from where they were forced out 30 years ago to make way for a US military base. The Court of Appeal backed a High Court ruling in May last year that allowed the families to return to the Chagos Islands, except for Diego Garcia, a launchpad for US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, China said it was investigating reports that toothpaste containing a potentially deadly chemical had been exported to Central America.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Colombia announced capital controls on some foreign investments to try to curb the soaring peso, which has made greater gains against the dollar this year than any other currency.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The BBC reported that Pakistani UN peacekeepers charged with disarming Congolese militia instead engaged in gold and weapons trafficking with militia members. The Pakistani unit in question deployed to Mongwalu in April 2005.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 27, The inaugural sermon was held at Mega Frater, Central America's biggest church. The new center of the Fraternidad Cristiana, a Neo-Pentecostal church based in the Guatemalan City, includes an auditorium that seats 12,500, a seven-story parking tower topped with a helipad and a day-care center for 3,000 kids.
(www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=Guatemala)
2007 May 23, An Iraqi intelligence officer alleged in a published report that 70% percent of insurgents fighting in Iraq come from Gulf countries via Syria where they are provided with forged passports. A suicide bomber walked into a packed market café in the town of Mandali, and blew himself up, killing 15 people and wounding 20 others. A suicide bomber (17) blew himself up in the house of two brothers who were supporting a Sunni alliance opposed to al Qaida in the Anbar province, killing 10 people, including the men, their wives and their children. A parked car bomb exploded in a parking lot in Jbala, killing three civilians and wounding 15 others. Gunmen drove into a commercial area in central Baghdad and opened fire on shops, killing four civilians and injuring 14 others. US-led forces discovered a cache of Iranian money and bomb-making equipment during a raid in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad. Two suspected militants were killed in the raid and 19 others detained. At least 104 people were killed in sectarian violence or found dead, including 32 who died in suicide bombings. US authorities examined a body found in a river south of Baghdad and identified it as Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., one of three US soldiers seized in an ambush on May 12. 2 US soldiers were killed during combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 23, Japan passed a law to fund the reorganization of US forces in Japan and help move thousands of Marines from the country's south to the US territory of Guam. Fire broke out at a farm in northern Japan, killing about 2,000 pigs.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Lebanon hundreds of Palestinian civilians carrying their belongings in plastic bags trickled out of a besieged refugee camp, taking advantage of a truce in fighting that mostly held overnight.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In western Mexico a tractor-trailer loaded with sand smashed into a toll booth and rebounded into other vehicles, setting off a blaze that killed 10 people.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo said she welcomed a greater global role by Japan as she discussed a stalled free trade agreement in Tokyo.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Romania's suspended President Traian Basescu was reinstated after he won a referendum on his removal from office.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In Serbia Slobodan Milosevic's paramilitary commander and 11 other men were convicted and sentenced in the assassination of Serbia's first democratically elected prime minister, Zoran Djindjic.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, In northern Syria 14 people were killed and 20 injured when an Iraqi bus overturned on the Raqqa-Aleppo highway about 250 miles north of Damascus.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 23, In southern Thailand 7 people including two teenagers were killed, while 11 others were injured in a spate of bombings by suspected separatist rebels.
(AFP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, The UN human rights commissioner said that Burundi has agreed to set up a tribunal to try people suspected of genocide and war crimes during its 12-year civil war.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 23, Yuri Chernogayev, an Uzbek reporter for German broadcaster, said he faces up to 10 years in prison after being accused of defaming President Islam Karimov.
(AP, 5/23/07)
2007 May 24, The US Congress passed a spending bill, providing $95 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pres. Bush signed the bill the next day.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Pres. Bush nominated James Holsinger, a cardiologist from Kentucky, as the new US surgeon general.
(www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070524-2.html)
2007 May 24, The Alabama Legislature passed a resolution that expressed profound regret for the state’s role in slavery. Gov Bob Riley was expected to sign it. In recent months Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia made formal apologies.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Oakland, Ca., C.C. Myers led the completion of repair work on I-580, 26 days after a portion of the MacArthur Maze collapsed following a gasoline tanker crash and fire.
(SFC, 5/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 24, Ohio death row inmate Christopher Newton was executed by injection; it took him 16 minutes to die, more than twice the usual amount of time, once chemicals began flowing into his veins, which the execution team had had trouble locating.
(AP, 5/24/08)
2007 May 24, Ancestry.com unveiled over 90 million US war records that dated back to 1607.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.C5)
2007 May 24, Energy Brands Inc. agreed to a $4.1 billion takeover by Coca-Cola.
(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.A3)
2007 May 24, In Afghanistan Sayed Gulab, a suspect with "extensive connections" with other senior Taliban and al-Qaida leaders in Nangarhar and Pakistan, was detained and held in a coalition facility.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 24, Britain's Court of Appeal upheld a $95 million award to the ex-wife of insurance tycoon John Charman (54), the largest judgment ever in a contested divorce in England and Wales. Jenny Bailey (45), a female councilor who was born a man and fathered two children, was sworn in as Britain's first transsexual mayor. Bailey, a Liberal Democrat, became the civic leader of the Cambridge City Council.
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In southern China residents of Bobai county angrily accused authorities of forcing women to have abortions and vandalizing homes in a brutal campaign to enforce birth-control policies. Government "work teams" had raided homes, carried out mass arrests and levied crippling fines across Guangxi, a sprawling region near the Vietnam border. Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. 2 days of heavy rainstorms in southwest China triggered flash floods and mudslides killed 21 people and left 11 missing.
(AFP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A car bomb targeting a funeral procession in the turbulent city of Fallujah killed at least 26 people. The funeral was being held for Alaa Zuwaid (60), a restaurant owner who was part of a tribe that had formed an alliance with other tribal leaders against al-Qaida. Zuwaid was killed earlier Thursday in the day unknown militants shot him in front of his house. In Sulaiman Bek, 75 miles south of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police convoy and killed six police officers. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb aboard a minibus driving through Baghdad, killing three civilians and injuring eight others. 5 US soldiers were killed in four separate attacks across Iraq, most of them by roadside bombs.
(AP, 5/22/07)(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Ireland voters began casting their ballots in an election that analysts say is likely to return PM Bertie Ahern to power, but with new, left-wing partners in government. An exit poll gave his Fianna Fail party a surprisingly strong lead in parliamentary elections.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, Israeli troops in the West Bank rounded up a Palestinian Cabinet minister and 32 other Hamas leaders in the West Bank before dawn, pressing forward with an offensive against the Islamic militant group.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japan's prime minister proposed cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 as part of a new global warming pact for all countries, including top polluters United States and China.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arrived in Estonia's seaside capital on their first-ever visit to a former Soviet republic.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In Lebanon sporadic gunfire erupted inside the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught. Lebanon's leader vowed to uproot the fighters. The family of Shaker Youssef al-Absi, the Palestinian who heads the shadowy militant group blamed for this week's violence in Lebanon, said he is not a terrorist but a nationalist who seeks an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Nigeria's powerful oil unions began a strike at its state-owned oil company and threatened to target exports in hopes of reversing the sale of government refineries.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In Pakistan thousands of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's opponents demonstrated in several, the first street protests since a burst of political violence deepened a crisis clouding his plans to stay in power.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, A Peruvian government flight serving as a link between isolated jungle communities disappeared in the country's northeastern rain forest with 20 people on board. 7 survivors were rescued the next day.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, A methane explosion tore through a coal mine in southern Siberia, killing 38 miners and injuring seven others. One worker died days later raising the toll to 39.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 24, Somali police shot and killed two civilians after attackers hurled a hand grenade at a police station.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, In South Africa's Eastern Cape province 9 children were among 14 people killed in a multiple-vehicle crash.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 24, In northern Sri Lanka a flotilla of rebel boats launched a deadly raid on a navy camp, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital killing one soldier and wounding six people. Tigers claimed to have killed 32 sailors. Government troops killed 12 suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern Vavuniya district.
(AP, 5/24/07)(AFP, 5/25/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 24, In Switzerland an arson fire gutted the interior of Hekhal Haness Synagogue, Geneva's largest synagogue.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 24, Hundreds of thousands of Syrians thronged Damascus to support a second seven-year term for President Bashar Assad.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, The head of the UN nuclear agency said he agreed with CIA estimates that Iran was three to eight years from being able to make nuclear weapons and he urged the US and other powers to pursue talks with the Islamic country.
(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 24, Zimbabwe police slapped a new ban on political rallies and demonstrations in parts of the capital Harare, citing a recent spate of "disturbances."
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 25, President Bush signed a bill to pay for military operations in Iraq that did not contain a timetable for troop withdrawals.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, The US filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization against India, saying its duties on alcoholic beverages and other imports violate global trade rules.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, infected with drug-resistant tuberculosis, was quarantined by the federal government after returning from his European wedding and honeymoon.
(AP, 5/25/08)
2007 May 25, Miami police said Francisco Oliveira (29), a handyman delivering drugs, shot and critically wounded Fabio Alonso Salgado (aka Estefano), a prominent Latin music songwriter and producer, inside a waterfront mansion.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 25, In central Texas two days of storms and flooding left 5 people dead and one missing.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, US and British researchers reported that stem cells taken from the umbilical cords of newborns can be engineered to produce insulin and may someday be used to treat diabetes.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Coca-Cola said it would buy Glaceau, an American maker of vitamin enhanced water, for $4.1 billion. This was Coke’s largest acquisition to date.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.78)
2007 May 25, Charles Nelson Reilly (76), actor, died. In 1962 he appeared on Broadway as Bud Frump in the original Broadway production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." The role won Reilly a Tony Award. He later became known for his ribald appearances on the "Tonight Show" and various game shows.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Afghanistan a NATO soldier from Canada was killed and two other NATO soldiers were wounded in overnight attacks by Taliban fighters. 7 Taliban fighters, including two local commanders, were killed in a joint coalition-Afghan operation in Gereshk district of southern Helmand province.
(AFP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Radovan Stankovic, a convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal, escaped from custody while being transported to a hospital in eastern Bosnia after complaining of feeling ill.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, British authorities said 4 people in north Wales have tested positive for a mild strain of bird flu, linked to the H7N2 low pathogenic avian influenza found in chickens.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Burundi 61 countries and international organizations promised 656 million dollars (488 million euros) during a donors' roundtable in the capital Bujumbura. The World Bank considers Burundi, where 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, the world's third-poorest nation.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Costa Rica health officials said they have seized more than 350 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with a deadly chemical reportedly found in tubes sold elsewhere in the world.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, China and the African Union launched a 150-million-dollar project to build a new conference centre for the cash-strapped continental body.
(AFP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, German lawmakers passed a ban on smoking on public transport and in federal buildings, including the parliament. It still needs approval from the upper house of parliament, where the government also has a majority.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months, delivering a fiery anti-American sermon to thousands of followers and demanding US troops leave Iraq. Gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a police officer as he was leaving his house in the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, 20 miles south of Baghdad. In al-Wijaihiya, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, a gunbattle between residents of a Sunni village and their rivals in a neighboring Shiite village, killed two people and injured five others. 6 mortar rounds hit houses in western Baghdad, killing one person. The notorious leader of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the city of Basra was killed in a shootout as British and Iraq troops tried to arrest him. Wissam al-Waili (23), also known as Abu Qadir, was shot and killed along with his brother and two aides.
(AP, 5/25/07)(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, A "garbage crisis" in Naples dominated news in Italy. For weeks local and national authorities have tried to end a stalemate over mountains of rubbish rotting on the streets for lack of adequate landfill sites.
(Reuters, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Abdullah el-Faisal, a Muslim cleric named by the British government as a key influence on one of four men who carried out the deadly London transport bombings in 2005, was deported to Jamaica after being released from prison.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, In Mexico 2 members of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a Marxist guerrilla group, disappeared. A week later the group blamed the government and called for their safe return and warned of dire consequences. In July the group began blowing up natural gas pipelines. Attacks took place on July 6,10 and Sep 10.
(WSJ, 11/14/07, p.A1)
2007 May 25, Myanmar's military government extended the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by another year.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In southern Nigeria gunmen kidnapped a group of foreign oil workers, including three Americans and four Britons.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Pakistani police busted a gang trading in kidneys and arrested eight people, including five doctors.
(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Russia's lower house of parliament gave preliminary backing to a new wide-ranging restrictions on smoking in public. In southern Russia a brawl between hundreds of Caucasus migrants and local Russians, all armed with metal rods, baseball bats and knives, killed an ethnic Chechen in Stravropol.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, In South Africa tens of thousands of nurses, teachers and other public service workers took to the streets to press their demands for a 12 percent pay increase.
(AP, 5/25/07)
2007 May 25, Turkey's president vetoed a newly passed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the people, and not Parliament, to elect the new president.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 25, Kurdish guerrillas bombed and derailed a Syria-bound train from Iran near the town of Genc in Turkey’s southeastern Bingol province. Turkish authorities later seized weapons hidden among construction materials found on the train following the attack.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 26, In Washington, DC, some 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside the Damascus embassy to protest against the government of Pres. Assad.
(WSJ, 1/25/07, p.A1)
2007 May 26, In southern Afghanistan an explosion during a fight with Taliban militants killed a British soldier. US-led coalition and Afghan forces detained a Taliban commander and two suspected al-Qaida militants in the east. In Kandahar 3 policemen and a civilian passer-by were wounded in a suicide attack. Gen. Mohammad Doud said Afghan forces have eradicated some 64,250 acres of poppies this year compared with 39,000 acres last year. Officials expected from 407,715 acres to 482,000 acres of poppies to be cultivated this year.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AFP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northeast China a restaurant fire killed 11 staff and diners and injured 16 others. The fire started in the kitchen and raged through the popular three-story Baixinglou restaurant in Liaoning province's Chaoyang city.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In southern Greece a flash flood swept away a group of hikers alongside the Lousios River, killing at least five people.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 26, In India a bomb exploded in a busy market in northeast Assam state, killing 7 people and injuring 18.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, An Iranian official said that Iran, embroiled in a row with Washington over its nuclear program, has increased the amount of its oil export earnings in currencies other than US dollars to about 70%.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and American Cmdr. Gen. David Petraeus flew to Iraq's blistering western desert in a rare joint outing to highlight gains there in the fight against insurgents. American forces raided Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes. In Basra 5 Mahdi Army fighters were killed and 15 wounded. The US military reported the deaths of 8 US troops.
(AP, 5/26/07)(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/26/08)
2007 May 26, Israel fired missiles at five Hamas targets minutes apart, killing five people just hours after Gaza militants floated the idea of halting rocket fire on Israeli border towns if the 10-day-old air campaign ends. In the West Bank, Israeli troops arrested Cabinet minister Wasfi Kabaha, confiscating his computer and many of his documents. Also in the West Bank, Palestinian police ambushed Adbel Razik (26), the leader of the violent Fatah offshoot the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, as he emerged from his home. A grenade blew up in his hand, and he later died of his wounds.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his son-in-law, diplomat Rakhat Aliyev, after Aliyev challenged the Kazakh leader by declaring he intended to run for the presidency.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, The newly installed Dutch government said some 25,000 asylum-seekers whose applications for refuge were rejected will be allowed to stay, reversing the previous administration's hardline immigration policy. The amnesty will apply to asylum-seekers who arrived before April 1, 2001 and were found not to qualify but who remained in the country anyway.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Nigeria's oil unions said they have suspended a two-day-old strike after the government met their demands over the proposed sale of two state-owned oil refineries.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In northwestern Pakistan a roadside bomb exploded near a military convoy, killing at least two soldiers and wounding seven others.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Egyptian Lieutenant Colonel Ihab Ahmed, a UN peacekeeper, died after he was shot during a robbery at his residence in El Fasher. Ahmed, part of a small group of reinforcements sent to Darfur, became the UN's first casualty since its arrival in the region.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Turkey thousands of flag-waving protesters filled streets in Denizli, accusing the government of trying to impose Islamic values on the country's Western way of life.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, In Ukraine several thousand interior troops streamed to Kiev, strengthening President Viktor Yushchenko's hand in a bitter dispute with the nation's prime minister that stoked up fears of violence.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets chanting "Freedom, Freedom!" to protest President Hugo Chavez's decision not to renew the broadcast license of the country's most-watched TV station, an outlet for the opposition.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 26, Zimbabwe riot police arrested more than 200 opposition activists and officials during a meeting they were holding at their party headquarters in Harare.
(Reuters, 5/26/07)
2007 May 27, Dario Franchitti won a rain-abbreviated Indy 500.
(AP, 5/27/08)
2007 May 27, SF held its annual Carnival parade in the Mission district.
(SFC, 5/28/07, p.D2)
2007 May 27, Gretchen Wyler (75), a veteran Broadway actress who enjoyed a second career on television and was a leading animal rights activist, died in Camarillo, Calif.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, The Taliban released 3 Afghan aid workers, who were kidnapped with two French colleagues nearly two months ago. The Taliban launched a new operation targeting government and foreign forces in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb killed three Afghan security guards working for the coalition in the east. Taliban militants ambushed US-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants. Villagers said 7 civilians also died.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Edward Behr (81), a noted British foreign correspondent and writer who penned books on history, good eating and his career as a journalist, died in Paris.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, In eastern Congo Rwandan rebels attacked villagers with machetes, spears and hammers, killing 17, wounding 28 and taking up to a dozen hostages.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Iraqi and US troops raided Baghdad's Sadr City slum, targeting Shiite insurgent cells there for a second day. British forces in the south killed three Shiite militants in overnight fighting. Iraqi and US forces freed 42 kidnapped Iraqis, some of whom had been hung from ceilings and tortured for months, in a raid on an al-Qaida hideout north of Baghdad. In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 70 police officers resigned and handed over their weapons. They cited their fears of being targeted by Mahdi Army militants. Gunmen in two cars threw concussion grenades at a popular market in northern Baghdad and then opened fire at shoppers, killing one person and injuring 8 others. Later, the same gunmen ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers. Gunmen shot up the car of Lt. Col. Hiyis al-Jubouri, a police commander in the northern Salahuddin province, killing him and another police officer. Gunmen attacked a group of farmers in the al-Nahrawan district, 10 miles east of Baghdad, killing two and injuring nine.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, PM Ehud Olmert promised more attacks on the Hamas militant group after a Palestinian rocket attack killed an Israeli man in southern Israel.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Kuwait's government announced that it is moving the country's weekend to Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday effective Sep 1.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, A Libyan court acquitted 5 Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian medic of charges of slandering policemen by protesting that their confessions had been extracted under torture.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Mexico assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles shot dead six family members, including three children, as they ambushed a minivan on a country road.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Christian Mungiu, a Romanian director, won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or for his “3 Weeks and 2 Days," which looked at abortion during the communist era. Michael Moore’s “Sicko," a film on the inequities of America’s health system, also featured at Cannes.
(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.32)
2007 May 27, Russian police detained gay protesters calling for the right to hold a Gay Pride parade in central Moscow while nationalists shouting "death to homosexuals" punched and kicked the demonstrators.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, A Rwandan genocide court handed a 19-year prison sentence to Francois-Xavier Byuma, a member of the Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights, for participating in the country's 1994 mass murder.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Spain's rival Socialists and conservatives fought to a virtual tie in local elections, highlighting the deep divisions in the country a year before national elections. The opposition People’s Party (PP) led by Mariano Rajoy won 35.6% vs. 34.9% for the Socialists.
(AP, 5/27/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.59)
2007 May 27, Syrian President Bashar Assad cast his vote at a polling station as part of a one-day public referendum to endorse him for a second term and bolster his autocratic rule. Assad won another seven years in office, getting 97% of the vote in a nationwide referendum in which he was the only candidate.
(AP, 5/27/07)(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 27, In southern Thailand 6 bombs ripped through a key commercial district, wounding 10 people.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Floods in eastern Turkey killed 10 people including six children aged between 18 months and 12.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 27, Ukraine's feuding president and prime minister agreed to hold an early parliamentary election on Sept. 30, defusing a crisis that threatened to escalate into violence when the president sent troops streaming toward the capital.
(AP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 27, Zimbabwean police freed the bulk of 200 youth opposition activists arrested in a raid on their party headquarters.
(AFP, 5/27/07)
2007 May 28, Astronomers on teams from UC Berkeley and Australia reported the discovery of 28 new planets in the Milky Way.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Alaska officials from 75 nations began talks critical to whale conservation amid pressure, notably from Japan, to lift a 20-year ban on commercial whale hunting.
(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Petersburg, Ky., the new Creation Museum opened with displays touting the beginning of time at 4004BC. Founder Ken Ham raised $27 million to build it. Answers in Genesis (AIG), owned and ran the museum and expected 250,000 yearly visitors paying $9.95 to $19.95 for tickets. In 2011 AIG planned to open a related theme park called Ark Encounter.
(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A2)(www.creationmuseum.org/)(Econ, 1/1/11, p.27)
2007 May 28, In northern Afghanistan a demonstration against a governor left at least seven dead and 31 injured after gunfire broke out between police and protesters. A suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two others in Kunduz. It was reported that truck drivers in Afghanistan had more problems with police demanding bribes that with the Taliban.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/28/07, p.A10)
2007 May 28, Police found a cocaine laboratory in the southern Bolivian jungle capable of producing 245 pounds of the drug daily, one of the largest drug labs ever discovered there. Satellite photos taken by the US Drug Enforcement Agency revealed the location of the lab.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, In Brazil Pres. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a program to provide cheap birth control pills at 10,000 drug stores across the country.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Britain’s public health minister said beer, wine and hard liquor packaging in Britain will carry warning labels next year detailing how many units of alcohol each drink contains as well as recommended safe drinking levels.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, A blast ripped through a crowd in Ethiopia's volatile Somali region, killing 6 people and setting off a stampede that saw up to six more die. The attack happened as hundreds of people were gathered at the stadium in Jijiga town's Revolutionary Square for a ceremony marking the overthrow of Ethiopia's former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 2008 an Ethiopian court sentenced to death 8 alleged members of the Ogaden National Liberation Force (ONLF) for the attack.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/22/08)
2007 May 28, Officials said heavy storms, landslides, flash floods and lightning have killed at least 23 people in Europe and Turkey.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Joerg Immendorff (b.1945), German artist, died. He was best known for his “Café Deutschland" series begun in 1978.
(SFC, 5/29/07, p.B3)
2007 May 28, In northwest Iran 7 Revolutionary Guard members and five militants were killed in clashes with armed insurgents.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, The US and Iran broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking US and Iraqi forces. The Iranian ambassador later said the two sides would meet again in less than a month. Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi, an Iraqi journalist, was shot to death along with his wife, son, parents and three other relatives. A suicide car bomber struck a busy commercial district in central Baghdad, killing at least 21 people and damaging a Sunni shrine. In central Baghdad a battle raged after insurgents hijacked two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers. At least 3 policemen were killed. A roadside bomb killed 2 people and injured 9 when it detonated under a parked car in the central Baghdad district of Bab al-Muadham. Another 2 people were killed and 6 were wounded after two mortar rounds slammed into a street in Karrada, a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in downtown Baghdad. 36 people were killed across Baghdad in a wave of attacks. Another 33 bullet-riddled bodies were dead, tortured and abandoned in different parts of the capital. 10 American soldiers were killed in roadside bombings and a helicopter crash in Diyala province.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 28, Japan's agriculture minister died after hanging himself just hours before he was to face questioning in a political scandal.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Kazakh authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the powerful son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev who faces abduction charges and has publicly criticized the longtime leader.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 28, In Mexico City Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Japan who hopes to someday open an international dance school, was crowned Miss Universe 2007.
(AP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, In Pakistan a court sentenced a same-sex couple to three years in jail on perjury charges, prompting the defendants to ask the president for help. The case of Shumail Raj, who was born female but had two operations to remove her breasts and uterus 16 years ago, and Shahzina Tariq has made waves by raising issues of homosexuality and transsexuality that are taboo in this conservative Muslim society. Pakistani police killed four pro-Taliban militants in a gun battle in the northwestern town of Bannu. Hours later unidentified gunmen shot dead a military commander on the outskirts of the northwestern town of Tank. A suicide attacker rammed his bomb-laden vehicle into a military convoy in Pakistan, killing two soldiers and wounding eight.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AFP, 5/28/07)
2007 May 28, Spain arrested 2 Algerians and 14 Moroccans, on suspicion of recruiting volunteers to fight in Iraq and other countries.
(AP, 5/28/07)(SFC, 5/29/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 5/29/07, p.A1)
2007 May 28, In Sri Lanka a Tiger roadside bomb in Colombo killed 7 soldiers and civilians.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 May 28, In southern Thailand a bomb in a market in Kolomudo killed four Buddhists, including two children.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 28, RCTV, Venezuela's oldest private television station, was pushed off the air as President Hugo Chavez's government replaced the popular opposition-aligned network with a new state-funded channel. Police fired tear gas and plastic bullets into a crowd of thousands protesting the decision by President Hugo Chavez.
(AP, 5/28/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.14)
2007 May 29, President Bush ordered new US economic sanctions to pressure Sudan's government to halt the bloodshed in Darfur.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, President Bush's environmental adviser said the US rejects the EU's all-encompassing target on reduction of carbon emissions. The US and Australia ruled out a regional carbon trading scheme before the meeting officially opened in the northern city of Darwin, saying it was too early to impose uniform targets on APEC nations. APEC members already account for 60% of global energy demand and their needs are expected to almost double by 2030. Fidel Castro lambasted President Bush for opposing the EU's goal for an agreement on carbon emissions at next week's Group of Eight summit.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, The US officials confirmed that immigration visa fees would rise by an average of 66% effective July 30.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A3)
2007 May 29, Andrew Speaker (31), a lawyer from Atlanta with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis, ignored doctors' advice and took two trans-Atlantic flights, leading to the first US government-ordered quarantine since 1963. Italian officials said they were tracing the movements of Speaker, who honeymooned in Rome for two days despite being told to turn himself in to health authorities.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(Reuters, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Cindy Sheehan, the soldier's mother who had galvanized an anti-war movement with her monthlong protest outside President Bush's ranch, announced her "resignation" as the public face of the movement.
(AP, 5/29/08)
2007 May 29, At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, two children died in an early morning fire at a soldier's housing unit on the Army post. In 2008 Army wife Billi Jo Smallwood (35) was accused of setting her apartment on fire in a botched attempt to collect on her husband's $400,000 insurance policy when he survived and her two children died instead.
(www.topix.com/forum/city/louisville-tn/TLELGAU2D0M0I5V1T)(AP, 11/22/08)
2007 May 29, In Hudson Oaks, Texas, Gilberta Estrada (25) was found hanged by suicide along with 3 of her 4 children. A 9-month-old infant survived her noose.
(SFC, 5/30/07, p.A8)
2007 May 29, Bangladeshi authorities revived two graft cases against former premier Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Security forces arrested 4 former government ministers, 2 mayors and a top businessman as the military-backed emergency government stepped up an anti-corruption drive.
(AFP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Brazilian Senate President Renan Calheiros said that he won't resign over accusations he accepted payoffs from one of the country's top construction companies.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Zheng Xiaoyu, China's former top drug regulator, was sentenced to death in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, China said it will not be tied to targets on cutting carbon emissions as Europe and Asia failed to agree at a 40-nation meeting on how to fight global warming.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, The roof of a newly built house in Wulanji, a northern Chinese village in Inner Mongolia, collapsed during a celebration for its completion, killing 16 people and injuring another 29.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, Egypt's parliament voted to expel an MP and nephew of late President Anwar Sadat, after he was declared bankrupt.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Ethiopia began counting its population, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, European and Asian foreign ministers meeting in Germany agreed to set a 2009 deadline to complete negotiations on a new international climate change pact to limit greenhouse gases.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In India clashes between police and thousands of people demanding government aid in the northern state of Rajasthan left at least 13 people dead.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Indonesia a teenage girl died of bird flu, taking the death toll in the nation worst hit by the virus to 79.
(AFP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 29, Iran's judiciary spokesman said US academic Haleh Esfandiari and two other Iranian-Americans have been "formally charged" with endangering national security and espionage.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Iraq 5 British men were pulled out of a Finance Ministry office by about 40 heavily armed men in police uniforms in broad daylight and driven in a convoy of 19 four-wheel-drive vehicles toward Sadr City. Management consultant Peter Moore and four of his security guards were seized. In 2008 a Shiite militia that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping said a hostage named Jason had committed suicide on May 25. The bodies of Alec MacLachlan (30), Jason Swindlehurst (38), and Jason Creswell (39) were handed over to British officials in 2009. Moore was released on Dec 30, 2009. The body of Alan McMenemy was returned in early 2012. Two car bombers hit neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Tigris River, killing 40 people and wounding more than 100 others. 3 German computer consultants were kidnapped from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in Baghdad. Gunmen in Samarra set up fake checkpoints on the outskirts of the city and abducted more than 40 people, most of them soldiers, police officers and members of two tribes that had banded together against local insurgents. Col. Hamid Ibrahim al-Jazaa, a Sunni police chief praised by US forces for clearing his city of insurgents, was arrested following an investigation into alleged murder, corruption and crimes against the Iraqi people. Al-Jazaa, his brother and 14 bodyguards were taken into custody in the city of Hit. One US soldier died of wounds from a roadside bomb attack northwest of Baghdad.
(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP, 7/20/08)(AP, 7/29/09)(AP, 12/30/09)(AFP, 1/20/12)
2007 May 29, In Japan an executive allegedly involved in a bid-rigging scam that has been linked to the suicide of the agriculture minister leaped to his death.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Lebanon’s army clashed with al-Qaida-linked Islamic fighters in a Palestinian refugee camp, breaking a weeklong truce.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Libya said it will sign a 900 million dollar exploration deal with energy giant BP, which plans to return after a 33 year absence. British PM Tony Blair arrived in Libya and welcomed improved relations as oil companies from both countries signed a major deal.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, In Nicaragua US embassy confirmed that an American woman, Lemon E. Groves (49), had died of injuries suffered when she was attacked in her home in the Nicaraguan city of Grenada last week.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Umaru Yar'Adua (56), a former governor hand-picked by departing President Olusegun Obasanjo, was sworn in as president in Nigeria’s first transfer of power from one elected government to another. Gun battles between rival gangs in Nigeria's southern oil-producing state of Rivers erupted in violence linked to a change of governor, killing 15 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Russia pledged to write off an additional $500 million of African debt. Russia test-launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple independent warheads. President Vladimir Putin warned that US plans for an anti-missile shield in Europe would turn the region into a "powder keg."
(Reuters, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/29/07)(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 29, In Sri Lanka troops and police stepped up security in Colombo after two bomb blasts by suspected Tiger rebels within 24 hours killed 11 people.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Sweden said it plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020, bettering the EU's proposal to cut emissions by at least 20%.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, Senior Thai judges began deliberating on whether to dissolve the kingdom's two main political parties as thousands of troops were put on alert amid security fears ahead of the court verdict.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 29, State media said Zimbabwe will put 40,000 more people on life saving anti-retroviral drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis.
(AP, 5/29/07)
2007 May 30, US President George W. Bush officially nominated Robert Zoellick, the former US deputy secretary of state, to be new World Bank president, describing him as a "committed internationalist."
(Reuters, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Robert Alan Soloway (27), described as one of the world's most prolific spammers, was arrested in Seattle, Wa. Federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Microsoft introduced a computer designed like a table with a touch-screen called Surface. It was aimed for use in hotels and casinos.
(WSJ, 5/30/07, p.B1)
2007 May 30, Motorola announced plans to cut 7,500 jobs and reduce costs by $1 billion through the end of this year and next. The company also announced that a shareholder proposal to have a say on executive pay passed by 51.8%.
(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A3)
2007 May 30, Global banking giant HSBC donated 50 million pounds (73.5 million euros, 98.8 million dollars) to set up a "green task force" to tackle climate change worldwide. HSBC teamed up with The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and WWF to provide conservation managers and policy makers with the latest research.
(AFP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Mark Harris (b.1922 as Mark Harris Finkelstein), American author, died in Goleta, Ca. His 13 novels and 5 nonfiction books included “Bang The Drum Slowly" (1956), a baseball novel that he adopted for the 1973 movie of the same name.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B9)
2007 May 30, A Saudi Arabian detainee died at Guantanamo Bay prison and the US military said he apparently committed suicide.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghan and US-led coalition forces clashed with Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, leaving six suspected insurgents dead and one wounded. A roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded another in the southern province of Uruzgan. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down by Taliban militants in an attack that killed everyone on board, five US soldiers, a Canadian and a Briton. In western Farah province, insurgents attacked the Pusht Rod district, and ensuing clashes with police left 10 militants dead and 15 wounded.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to increase cooperation after meeting with Group of Eight foreign ministers amid concerns that enmity between the neighbors is helping the Taliban inflict mounting losses on NATO troops and Afghan civilians.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Ontario and California leaders said they will work together to develop new stem cell therapies to help conquer cancer, and will cooperate on curbing greenhouse gas emission.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, In the northwest corner of Central African Republic soldiers set fire to hundreds of houses in retaliation for the killing of a local official by unidentified gunmen. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 420 children die each week, and that escalating conflict between the CAR government and rebel groups has forced some 212,000 people to flee their homes in recent years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 May 30, Chinese stocks plunged after the government raised a tax on share trades, trying to cool a market boom amid growing concerns about a possible bubble. The stamp tax was tripled to 0.3%. The port city of Xiamen announced a decision to temporarily suspend construction of a petrochemical plant after nearly a million text messages were sent protesting its construction.
(AP, 5/30/07)(WSJ, 5/31/07, p.A8)(Econ, 6/2/07, p.82)
2007 May 30, Cuba agreed to buy $118 million in US food products ranging from pork and corn to soybeans and Spam, and said it was negotiating deals that could bring the total to nearly $150 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Officials said one of the world's largest slums, a filthy shantytown in western India, will be razed and replaced with free homes for Mumbai's poor in a multi-billion dollar project by a private developer.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Indonesian marines shot and killed five people on Java island during a violent protest over a plot of land allegedly owned by the force.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Iranian troops killed 10 militants in ongoing clashes in the country's northwest, near the border with Turkey.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Hundreds of Iraqi and US troops cordoned off sections of Baghdad's Sadr City slum and conducted a series of raids after five British citizens were abducted from a nearby government building. 2 civilians were killed and four others injured in crossfire from gunbattles that broke out in one of the raids. Several mortar rounds apparently targeting an American military base in Fallujah missed their mark and landed instead on a courthouse and in a residential neighborhood, killing 9 civilians and wounding 15 others. A police commander's convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in Hamzah, south of Baghdad, killing two guards and injuring two others. Gunmen in 3 cars ambushed 3 soldiers who had stopped to drink orange juice in the center of Karbala, and stole the nearly $396,000 in salaries they were transporting to their unit. In Amarah gunmen mowed down Nazar Abdul-Wahid (33), an Iraqi journalist, as he stood on a city street. Over 25 people were killed across Iraq and the bodies of 25 men, all shot to death, were found in different parts of Baghdad. 3 US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombings in Baghdad.
(AP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(SFC, 5/31/07, p.A12)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 May 30, A group of internationally renowned Israeli authors and university presidents demanded that Israel grant Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip free movement to superior universities in the West Bank.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Medical officials in Kyrgyzstan confirmed that PM Almazbek Atambayev was poisoned after receiving death threats but said they have not yet identified the toxin.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, A UN resolution gave the Lebanese parliament a last chance to establish a tribunal to prosecute the killers of former PM Rafik Hariri. If it doesn't act by June 10, the UN decision will automatically "enter into force." A military judge filed terrorism charges against 20 suspected members of an Islamic militant group fighting Lebanese troops at a Palestinian refugee camp.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Malaysia's top civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country. A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card. Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Lina Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Moroccans were able to access the video sharing Web site YouTube for the first time since access was blocked last week.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Nepal some 10,000 Bhutanese refugees demonstrated at the India-Nepal border, where a day earlier Indian troops had opened fire, killing one refugee.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, It was reported that coffee shops licensed to sell marijuana in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht will begin fingerprinting customers and scanning their IDs this summer to help prove they're following rules governing such sales.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In southern Nigeria 4 American oil workers abducted three weeks ago were released.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Pakistan a court sentenced Younis Masih (29), a Christian, to death under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Masih was arrested in Sep 2005 on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore after residents told police he made derogatory remarks against Islam and Muhammad. Masih has said that dozens of Muslims had thrashed him on Sept. 10, 2005, when he asked them not to sing loudly because his nephew had died, and his body was still lying at home.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 30, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, host of the Islamic Development Bank’s annual meeting, spoke on behalf of the bank’s launch of a $10 billion fund to combat poverty in developing Muslim nations in Africa and other parts of the world. Saudi Arabia pledged to contribute $1 billion, Kuwait $300 million, Iran $100 million and Senegal $10 million.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Outgoing British PM Tony Blair arrived in the small west African nation of Sierra Leone on the second leg of a three-nation African tour.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Somalia Ethiopian troops shot and killed five bystanders after a land mine exploded as their convoy passed through the center of a western Somali town.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, Two senior officials with Thailand's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party were found guilty of election fraud in a ruling that could doom the political powerhouse founded by ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra. A court disbanded the political party of Shinawatra, barring him and 110 party executives from politics for five years due to election law violations.
(AFP, 5/30/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 30, Turkish police captured 11 suspected al-Qaida militants who allegedly were planning to stage terrorist attacks in Istanbul.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 30, In Venezuela a top opponent of President Hugo Chavez demanded the release of jailed protesters as university students poured into the streets for a third day to protest the removal of a leading opposition TV station from the air.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 May 31, President Bush, under international pressure to take tough action against global warming, called for a world summit to set a long-term global strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, In a breach of security, detailed plans for the new US Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared on the Web site of the architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush attended the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2007 May 31, The US and Russia agreed to put nuclear radiation monitors at all of Russia’s int’l. border crossings by 2011.
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill allowing civil unions for gays couples effective next year.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed a $6.06 billion budget for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, a 5.4% increase over the previous year.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.B12)
2007 May 31, Wachovia Corp. said it will acquire brokerage firm A.G. Edwards for $6.8 bil.
(SFC, 6/1/07, p.C3)
2007 May 31, Evan O’Dorney (13) won the Scripps National Spelling Bee when he correctly spelled the word “serrefine."
(WSJ, 6/1/07, p.A1)
2007 May 31, A Taliban ambush killed 16 policemen in a convoy on its way from the south to Kabul. A battle pitting NATO and Afghan troops against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan killed 20 militants. Taliban commander called Mullah Naqibullah was among the dead. Taliban fighters attacked the home of a police official in Zurmat district of Paktia province. Police reinforcements were called in, sparking a battle that left six Taliban dead. Five rockets were fired from the top of a mountain in Kunar province, hitting several civilian homes and killing two women.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Australia and the Philippines agreed to expand counter-terrorism cooperation, with elite Australian troops to train their Philippine counterparts in the restive south.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, China’s state media said fast-spreading, foul-smelling blue-green algae smothered Lake Tai in eastern Jiangsu province, contaminating the drinking water for millions of people and sparking panic-buying of bottled water.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, A wildlife expert said a thousand rare black-mane lions, an Ethiopian national symbol, and some 300 elephants are in danger after a swathe of forest that was part of their sanctuary was cut down.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Haitian authorities arrested 10 people, including four police officers, who were allegedly transporting 925 pounds of cocaine in two vehicles with government license plates.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, India and the United States began talks intended to resolve delays in a nuclear energy deal that will give India access to long-denied Western nuclear technology.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Iran pledged to end years of stonewalling and provide answers on past suspicious activities to the UN nuclear monitoring agency probing its atomic program, in a move being seen as an attempt to avoid new UN sanctions. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's hard-line interior minister, encouraged temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution. A temporary marriage, or "sigheh," refers to a Shiite Muslim tradition under which a man and a woman sign a contract that allows them to be "married" for any length of time, even a few hours.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 May 31, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 US commander in Iraq, said that US military officers were talking with Iraqi militants, excluding al-Qaida, about cease-fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence. Saif M. Fakhry (26), an Associated Press Television News cameraman, was shot twice and killed in Baghdad while walking to a mosque near his home on his day off. A suicide bomber hit a police recruiting center in Fallujah, killing as many as 25 people. The US military said only one policeman was killed and eight were wounded.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Japan failed in its bid to lift a moratorium on commercial whaling after stormy annual talks in Alaska of the 75-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC) and warned it might pull out of the organization.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said Kenya’s police over the last few months have arrested 2,464 suspected followers of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect whose members are believed to have beheaded several people in recent months.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 May 31, Latvia's Parliament elected Valdis Zatlers, a surgeon with no political background as, the Baltic country's next president. He will replace outgoing President Vaira Vike-Freiberga in July when her second and final term ends.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Mexico's Televisa network, known around the world for its soap operas, said it plans to expand in China, following the lead of taco chains and other Mexican businesses looking for a slice of the Asian nation's market.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Dutch news agency ANP reported that almost half of Rotterdam's coffee shops will be forced to stop selling cannabis because they are too close to secondary schools.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In northwestern Pakistan about 100 suspected pro-Taliban militants attacked the house of a government official before dawn, killing 13 people.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In the Philippines 6 armed men boarded a bus in Manila and started robbing passengers. 3 suspects, the bus driver and a passenger were killed.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, President Vladimir Putin said that tests of new Russian missiles were a response to the planned deployment of US missile defense installations and other forces in Europe, suggesting Washington has triggered a new arms race.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The chief suspect in the murder of Russian ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko accused the British secret service of being behind the killing and said Litvinenko himself had been spying for MI6.
(AFP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Rwanda said a law abolishing the death penalty would come into force at the end of July, six months after the government first announced plans to scrap capital punishment.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, In South Africa Britain's PM Blair also said that Africa's leaders must get tough on authoritarian governments, such as those in Sudan and Zimbabwe.
(Reuters, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, The Spanish government said it has filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against an American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure.
(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May 31, Serbia arrested Zdravko Tolimir, one of six Serb war crimes suspects still at large. He was picked up in Belgrade and officially arrested in the Serb part of Bosnia.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.60)
2007 May 31, In southern Thailand suspected insurgents sprayed gunfire into a mosque, killing 7 worshippers. Black-uniformed raiders roared into Kolomudo, a Muslim village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was over, five of the youths lay dead. Buddhist vigilantes were suspected. A roadside bomb killed 11 paramilitary troops almost simultaneously in some of the worst recent violence. A 12th soldier died the next day.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 May 31, Turkish lawmakers approved again a constitutional amendment that would see the president elected by popular vote, a change vetoed last week by the outgoing head of state. Turkey's top general said the military was ready to stage a cross-border offensive to fight Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq and that he already had sought government approval to mount military action.
(AFP, 5/31/07)(AP, 5/31/07)
2007 May, Montana’s Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a bill offering tax incentives to many renewable energy projects, including cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel. Montana claimed the largest coal reserves in America with 120 billion recoverable tons.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.36)
2007 May, Harvard-based psychologist Gardner posited in the May/June issue of “Foreign Policy," that the US limit the amount of money a single individual can annually take home to no more than "100 times as much money as the average worker in a society earns in a year." "If the average worker makes $40,000," Gardner proposes, "the top compensated individual may keep $4 million a year."
(www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3787)
2007 May, UC San Diego, home to the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), received $29 million to design and construct technology and networking components for the Ocean Observatories Initiative to monitor activity on the ocean floor. It will likely become part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems.
(SSFC, 7/29/07, p.A8)
2007 May, Mahalo.com, a web directory (or human search engine), was launched in alpha test by Jason Calacanis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalo.com)
2007 May, Twitter, an Internet service that allows users to send short messages in response to the question: “What are you doing," was incorporated. Since its creation in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gained notability and popularity worldwide.
(http://twitter.com/)(SFC, 10/5/09, p.D3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)
2007 May, Australia’s Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
(Reuters, 5/28/07)
2007 May, In Australia the Slater & Gordon law firm went public and used the proceeds to go on an acquisition spree, swallowing 6 smaller rivals within a year.
(Econ, 8/23/08, p.55)
2007 May, In Germany 6 former members of cycling Team Telekom confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.74)
2007 May, A Geneva court temporarily blocked the release of some of the US$6.2 million stashed in Switzerland by Duvalier. Many in Haiti considered the money to have been stolen from public funds before Duvalier was ousted.
(AP, 1/17/11)
2007 May, In Japan it was uncovered that the Social Insurance Agency was unable to match 50 million computerized pension records to people who have paid into public programs. Another 14 million records appeared to have never made it into the computer at system at all.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.24)
2007 May, Inflation in Sri Lanka stood at 17%.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.56)
2007 May, UN police detained James Wasserstrom in at his home in Greece. He had been working for Unmik, the UN Mission in Kosovo. He had raised concerns over links between UN officials and a local utility company. He also hired by Kosovo to fight corruption. In 2012 the UN Ethics office ruled that his maltreatment was “perhaps excessive."
(Econ, 6/30/12, p.64)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
http://timelines.ws/21stcent/2007_6
June xxxx
2007 Jun 1, The US government warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China because it may contain a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In California a federal court judge barred the state from seizing abandoned assets until officials find a better way to notify people that their property is about to be taken.
(SFC, 6/2/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 1, In Michigan Jack Kevorkian, the retired pathologist dubbed "Dr. Death" for claims that he participated in at least 130 assisted suicides, left prison after eight years still believing people have the right to die.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Afghanistan a NATO soldier was killed in a bomb blast while two Afghan women and a policeman died in attacks elsewhere linked to a deepening Taliban insurgency.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Rakhat Aliyev, the Kazakh ambassador to Austria until he was dismissed on May 26, was arrested for alleged involvement in the suspected kidnapping of two senior managers of a bank he controls. He appealed to Austrian authorities not to extradite him to his homeland to face kidnapping charges.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In a key legal step toward assigning blame for Brazil's deadliest plane crash, two US pilots and four Brazilian air traffic controllers were indicted on charges equivalent to involuntary manslaughter for the Sep 29, 2006, mid-air collision that killed 154 people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Brazil federal authorities said an Indian tribe that has had very limited contact with the outside world, has been located in a remote Amazon region. The Metyktire, a subgroup of the Kayapo tribe, consisted of some 87 members.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Marly de Oliveira (69), the Brazilian poet who wrote the award-winning volume "O Mar de Permeio" (The Sea Between Us), died in Rio de Janeiro.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 1, The UN refugee agency said hundreds of women and children fled by foot and on donkeys from Darfur to the neighboring Central African Republic after their town was attacked by planes and helicopters. The refugees said their town of Dafak, in southern Darfur, was attacked repeatedly by janjaweed militia from May 12 to May 18 and that their homes had been bombarded by airstrikes.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In China a new bankruptcy law took effect making it easier to restructure insolvent firms.
(http://tinyurl.com/gpav4ar)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.68)
2007 Jun 1, On Children’s Day in China thousands of people rallied in Xiamen to protest plans for a Taiwanese-owned chemical factory to make paraxylene, used in polyester. Thousands marched again the next day
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 1, Vietnam became Cuba's latest partner in oil exploration and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico under one of several agreements signed during a visit by Vietnamese Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, A French naval frigate conducting a surveillance mission off Malta discovered the bodies of 18 people floating in the Mediterranean. Crew members on "La Motte Picquet" noticed no boat nearby as the bodies, possibly of illegal immigrants hoping to reach Europe, were pulled out of the water.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Police in northern India issued shoot-on-sight orders as eight more people were killed in ethnic clashes that have left 28 dead so far.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Indian-controlled Kashmir suspected Islamic militants attacked a paramilitary camp, a police post and an army vehicle in an upsurge in violence, killing three government soldiers and wounding another 22.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, In Iraq an al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber blew himself up in a house sheltering members of the rival 1920 Revolution Brigades, killing two of the other militants and wounding four in Baqouba. American troops killed 3 children near Fallujah when a US tank opened fire on suspected insurgents believed to be planting roadside bombs. A US soldier on a foot patrol was killed after approaching two suspicious men outside a mosque, one of whom blew himself up. US Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins (31) saved three soldiers when he used his body to subdue an insurgent attempting to detonate a bomb strapped to his body. In 2019 Pres. Donald Trump presented Atkins' family the Medal of Honor.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)(http://tinyurl.com/y2ocupvl)(SFC, 3/28/19, p.A7)
2007 Jun 1, Israeli troops shot and killed two 13-year-old Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border fence, saying they were crawling toward the barrier in a "suspicious manner." The boys had told their families they were going to the beach.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armored carriers moved toward a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon in pursuit of Islamic militants holed up inside. 19 people died in some of the heaviest fighting since violence broke out on May 20.
(AP, 6/1/07)(WSJ, 6/2/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 1, The government of Mauritania appealed to international donors to help it reverse a food shortage affecting more than 1 million people.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, Mexican soldiers fired on a family traveling to a funeral when they failed to stop after being ordered to do so at the checkpoint near the village of La Joya. 19 Mexican soldiers were sent to a military prison June 4 for the shooting that killed two women and three children. In 2011 the commanding officer received a 40-year sentence in a court martial and another officer received 38 years. A judge gave 12 enlisted soldiers 16-year sentences.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 11/3/11)
2007 Jun 1, Nigeria’s national dailies reported that nearly 2,000 students sitting university entrance exams in have been caught using mobile phones to cheat. Gunmen disguised as riot police abducted four foreign workers from the residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's oil city Port Harcourt. The four hostages were citizens of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan. Gunmen kidnapped three senior expatriate management staff and four family members from the residential compound of chemical company Indorama.
(AFP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Norwegian environmental group Bellona warned that a nuclear waste dump in the Russia Arctic may be in danger of exploding because of corrosion caused by salt water in enormous storage tanks.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, Alan Johnston, a British reporter kidnapped in the Gaza Strip nearly three months, ago appeared in a videotape posted on an Islamic militant Web site, saying his captors had treated him well, denouncing Israel, and criticizing British and US Mideast policy. The Swords of Truth, an Islamic group, threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/1/07)(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Swords of Truth, an Islamic group, threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, At least one US warship bombarded a remote, mountainous village in Somalia where Islamic militants had set up a base. One target was said to be Fazul Abdullah Muhammad (35), a citizen of the Comoro Islands. The next day Puntland VP Hassan Dahir Mohamoud told The Associated Press that his government's troops killed eight foreign Islamic militants and five of them came from Britain, Eritrea, Sweden, the US and Yemen.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 7/14/07, p.52)
2007 Jun 1, In South Africa hundreds of thousands of public servants embarked on an indefinite strike.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, CNBC Africa was launched from new headquarters in South Africa. Dubai investors put in some $22.5 million for the 24-hour African business channel broadcasting to 14 African countries.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.75)
2007 Jun 1, The African Union objected to a proposal for a 23,000-strong AU-U.N. force to help end the bloodshed in Sudan's troubled Darfur region because it would give the United Nations command and control.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 1, In southeast Turkey soldiers killed two Kurdish militants overnight in Tunceli, where troops massed along the border threatened an incursion into Iraq.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four Muslim men were arrested and in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a jet fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods. Two men allegedly involved in a plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were in custody in Trinidad and Tobago and the police commissioner said authorities were scouring the Caribbean country for a third suspect still at large. In 2011 Kareem Ibrahim (65) of Trinidad was found guilty of convincing plotters to seek aid from Iran.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/2/08)(SFC, 5/27/11, p.A6)
2007 Jun 2, Thomas M. Siebel (54), the founder and former chairman of Siebel Systems Inc., announced he will make a $100 million donation to the University of Illinois, his alma mater. This was the largest gift in the university's history. Siebel pledged to give the gift to the Urbana-Champaign campus upon his death.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Kelsey Smith (18) went missing when she went to a Target store in the Overland Park suburb of Kansas City to buy a gift for her boyfriend. On June 6 police found her body in a wooded area near Grandview, Mo., about 20 miles east of the Target store. Edwin R. Hall (26) was arrested shortly after her body was found. In 2008 Hall pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 7/23/08)
2007 Jun 2, In San Francisco, Ca., Hugues de la Plaza (36), a French national, was found dead in his Linden Street apartment in Hayes Valley. Police labeled his stabbing death as a possible homicide or suicide. In 2009 a French probe called his death a homicide. The French probe concluded that de la Plaza was stabbed in a surprise attack outside his apartment. In 2009 an independent review ruled out suicide.
(SFC, 1/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 2/27/09, p.B1)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.C1)
2007 Jun 2, A boat crossing the Helmand River in Helmand province sank, and at least 60 Taliban militants were killed. Suspected Taliban militants attacked a local police commander's home, killing five of his family members and sparking a gunbattle with police that left 10 insurgents dead. In eastern Afghanistan suspected militants ambushed a NATO convoy, killing two members of the alliance and wounding 7 troops. 15 suspected militants were killed by police. In eastern Khost province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Yaqubi district and the ensuing clash left 12 militants dead. Police clashed with Taliban militants in neighboring Paktika province's Shakin district, leaving three suspected insurgents dead.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AFP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In England Authorized won the Epsom Derby giving riding legend Frankie Dettori his first win in the race on his 15th ride.
(AFP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev said he had accepted the resignation of two ministers, following a corruption scandal that has shaken his centre-left government.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Comoros and Guinea joined the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) at a summit of the nine-year-old African grouping in Libya, raising its membership to 25 countries.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Rostock, Germany, masked demonstrators protesting the upcoming G-8 summit meeting hurled stones and flagpoles at police.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, India and the United States failed to resolve differences over an American offer to share nuclear know-how and fuel, ending three days of negotiations that were intended to seal a deal seen as the cornerstone of an emerging partnership.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Iran detained 3 Finns for allegedly straying into its territorial waters during a fishing trip in the Persian Gulf. In June 6 Iran agreed to release them.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 2, A series of mortar barrages killed 8 civilians and wounded 25 others in a Sunni enclave surrounded by Shiite areas in central Baghdad. A key bridge was damaged by a bomb in northern Iraq. Prominent Sunni sheik, Ali Khudir al-Zind, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he walked near his home in western Baghdad. Gunmen opened fire in two separate locations in western Baghdad, killing three people. Police found two bullet-riddled bodies of people who had been bound and blindfolded and showed signs of torture. Four men were killed and one vehicle and 10 rockets destroyed by Apache fire at rocket firing positions aimed at the Green Zone. 6 suspects were captured by ground forces. Gunmen at a fake checkpoint in Baqouba killed two passengers and wounded eight others when they opened fire on three minibuses that sought to flee from the highway trap. Police found 8 unidentified bodies in an industrial area of the western city of Fallujah. In all at least 57 people were killed of found dead including 26 bullet riddled bodies, bearing signs of torture, found on the streets of Baghdad. US-led forces killed one suspected insurgent and detained eight in a series of raids outside the capital. 7 US soldiers were killed in a series of attacks across Iraq.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.A23)(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 2, Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson announced a program aimed at saving elephants in Kenya, as he boarded his airline's first flight to the east African nation.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, The Lebanese air force joined tanks and artillery in pounding Islamic militant hideouts on the second day of an intensifying offensive to uproot al-Qaida-inspired gunmen barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Southern Nigeria's most prominent armed group released six foreign oil workers held captive for four weeks and announced a month-long moratorium in attacks on petroleum facilities.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Four people believed to have fled North Korea arrived at a port in northern Japan in a small boat and told police they want to go to South Korea.
(Reuters, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Pakistan tens of thousands of demonstrators joined the biggest rally yet against the president's suspension of the chief justice, giving the jurist a joyous reception ahead of a speech in an opposition stronghold. Officials said a nursing school was shut down and its Christian principal and four Christian students suspended after Muslim pupils accused unknown people of desecrating verses from the Quran.
(AP, 6/2/07)(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In the Philippines a man armed with a 21-inch-long knife killed nine people, including six children, and wounded 17 others in a rampage in central Samar province.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Russia former PM Mikhail Kasayanov was nominated by his opposition movement to run in next year's presidential election and promised to stop the Kremlin orchestrating the vote in its favor.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Mogadishu, Somalia, unknown gunmen killed a government official, Hassan Ali Sa'id, as he was about to enter his house.
(AP, 6/2/07)
2007 Jun 2, Two Sri Lankan Red Cross workers, ethnic Tamil men abducted from Colombo two days ago, were found shot to death. The Tigers launched a night attack near Omanthai and claimed to have killed 30 soldiers. The army said it killed 52 Tigers.
(AP, 6/3/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.24)
2007 Jun 2, The UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) decided to permit a one-off sale of 60 tons of ivory from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to Japan, saying it would monitor closely the impact on poaching and population levels.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 2, In Zambia at least 12 soccer fans were crushed to death as a crowd rushed from the Lusaka stadium after Zambia's victory over Congo Brazzaville in an African Cup qualifier.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, After attending the MTV Movie Awards, Paris Hilton reported to jail to serve a 45-day sentence for a probation violation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. Hilton was released after three days behind bars for an unspecified medical condition, but a Los Angeles County judge ordered her back to jail.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2007 Jun 3, In Afghanistan 3 "enemies of peace and stability" were killed when a bomb they were planting exploded in the eastern province of Laghman. An Afghan army soldier was killed and another was injured by a remotely-controlled Taliban bomb in Zabul province.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Australia’s PM John Howard ditched his opposition to a greenhouse gas reduction target for Australia with a pledge to set a national pollution limit next year.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A strong earthquake shook a hilly southwestern Chinese region near the border with Laos, killing at least three people.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, A 19-year-old Chinese soldier died of the virulent strain of bird flu, the country's 16th reported death from the virus.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In northeast India suspected rebels ambushed a police vehicle, killing four policemen and injuring two others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, A car parked near a police station and an open-air market exploded in Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad, killing nine civilians and one policeman and wounding 25 other people. Elsewhere in Diyala province gunmen stopped a commuter minibus and raked its passengers with gunfire, killing five people and injuring seven. American helicopter gunships attacked targets in Mahdi Army-dominated Shiite east Baghdad, killing four suspected militants. Mahdi Army militiamen battled with Iraqi troops and local police searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah. At least three people were killed and 24 wounded. 4 US soldiers died in a single roadside bombing northwest of Baghdad. Two other soldiers were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings.
(AP, 6/3/07)(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Libya African leaders sought to reconcile differences between neighbors Chad and Sudan over Darfur and boost Somalia's embattled transitional government at a regional summit.
(AFP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, In southern Mexico tons of bananas collapsed the false floor of a tractor-trailer smuggling migrants, killing 6 people hidden inside a secret compartment and wounding a dozen others.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 3, Heavy gunfire rang out from inside a bombed out Palestinian refugee camp as the Lebanese army pounded Islamic militants holed up inside during the third day of a military offensive aimed at crushing the al-Qaida-inspired group.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Some 2,000 men and women participated in a series of four nude group photos in Amsterdam in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of US photographer Spencer Tunick.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Nigerian gunmen kidnapped six foreign staff of United Company RUSAL after blowing up their apartment with explosives in the southeastern town of Ikot Abasi.
(Reuters, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Hamas militants wounded four Israeli soldiers in a mortar attack on a base near the Gaza Strip, shortly after Israel's PM Ehud Olmert vowed to press ahead with military operations against Palestinian gunmen.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow could take "retaliatory steps" if Washington proceeds with plans to build a missile defense system for Europe, including possibly aiming nuclear weapons at targets on the continent.
(WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 3, A severe landslide has nearly obliterated one of Russia's most noted natural wonders, the Valley of Geysers. A snow-covered mound collapsed "within seconds" and caused a massive landslide, about a mile long and 600 feet wide, burying two-thirds of the valley.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, In Sierra Leone a helicopter ferrying passengers to the main airport crashed, bursting into flames and killing 22 people, mostly Togo soccer fans.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 3, A suicide car bomber drove through a roadblock guarding the home of the Somali prime minister and rammed the vehicle into a wall. PM Ali Mohamed Gedi was whisked to safety, but at least five people were killed in the explosion.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Turkish troops shelled a border area in northern Iraq in an attack on Kurdish rebels based there.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 3, Pope Benedict XVI named four new saints from France, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland at a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Among those honored was Sister Marie Eugenie de Jesus Milleret, a French nun who in 1839 founded the Religious of the Assumption to educate young girls; the Rev. George Preca of Malta, who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1932 as a group of lay people who teach the faith to others; the Rev. Szymon z Lipnicy of Poland, a Franciscan monk who comforted Poles afflicted by the plague that broke out in Krakow from 1482-83 and died of it himself; and the Rev. Charles of St. Andrew (Dublin), who was born Karel Van Sint Andries Houben in the Netherlands in 1821.
(AP, 6/3/07)
2007 Jun 4, President Bush left on an eight-day European trip that included a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany.
(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, Two US military judges dismissed charges against a Guantanamo detainee accused of chauffeuring Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a US soldier in Afghanistan. Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen and Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was arrested on an Afghan battlefield, were the only two of the roughly 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes under a reconstituted military trial system.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, US Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana, was indicted for graft involving Nigerian business schemes that netted him over $500,000 in bribes. Jefferson has maintained his innocence.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, In California 9 Hmong leaders, Gen. Vang Pao, a former Laotian military general, and Harrison Jack, a former officer in the California National Guard, were arrested during a sweep by more than 200 federal, state and local agents for their alleged plot, hatched last winter, to overthrow the communist government of Laos. They were charged with violating the US federal Neutrality Act. In 2009 federal prosecutors in Sacramento, Ca., dismissed charges against Vang Pao.
(AP, 6/5/07)(SFC, 5/12/09, p.A5)(SFC, 9/19/09, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, A small plane from Milwaukee carrying a six-member organ transplant team and their cargo of donor organs to Michigan crashed in Lake Michigan with no survivors.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Portage, Wisconsin, Tammie Garlin was killed. Felicia Garlin (15) and Michaela Clerc (20) had kicked her, then later that day carried her into the bathroom, where Clerc dropped her head on the floor. A roving band of suspected identity thieves buried her in the backyard and locked her bloody and beaten 11-year-old son in an upstairs closet. Authorities reached the house on June 14.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 4, Jim Clark (84), sheriff and segregationist from Alabama, died. He turned back the 1965 civil rights march at the Edmund Pettus Bridge leaving 57 people injured. National revulsion led to the Voting Rights Act later that year.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.99)
2007 Jun 4, US Sen. Craig Thompson (74), 3-term Republican conservative from Wyoming, died of leukemia.
(SFC, 6/5/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 4, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Iranian weapons have begun flowing into Afghanistan, but he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed involvement by Tehran cannot yet be proved. Six Taliban rebels were killed in a gunfight with Afghan and NATO-led troops in the eastern province of Paktia. Afghan forces sank a boat in the Helmand River carrying suspected Taliban fighters fleeing an attack, and more than 20 drowned. In a separate gunbattle and airstrikes killed an estimated two dozen militants. Roadside bombs killed two Afghan soldiers and wounded five in southern Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AFP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 4, Scientists said a frog with fluorescent purple markings and 12 kinds of dung beetles were among two dozen new species discovered in the remote plateaus of eastern Suriname.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Algeria Hassan Hattab, fugitive founder of the extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for setting up an armed terrorist group by a court in Tizi-Ouzou.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 4, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that rich nations should pay poorer countries to preserve their forests because the rich are responsible for most of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Police formally accused a brother of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of influence peddling after a nationwide crackdown on illegal gambling. About 600 Federal Police agents took part in the raids carrying 87 arrest warrants and another 50 search and seizure warrants in six states as part of Operation Razor, an investigation into fraudulent public works (www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8320/54/).
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)(www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/8320/54/)
2007 Jun 4, PM Tony Blair said the British government is to boost funding to help train Muslim imams at universities and to step up the promotion of moderate Islam.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, China promised to better control emissions of greenhouse gases, unveiling a national program to combat global warming, but rejected mandatory caps on emissions as unfair to countries still trying to catch up with the developed West. The government also said it will license no new Internet cafes this year while regulators carry out an industry-wide inspection, amid official concern that online material is harming young people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Cambodian and foreign judges began a weeklong meeting to confirm rules for the much-delayed genocide trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Colombia Rodrigo Granda, the highest-ranking jailed member of the country's main guerrilla group, was freed by the government as part of a wider prisoner release intended to help secure the freedom of 60 hostages, including three Americans, held by the guerrillas. There is no explanation for why these particular captives are to be freed. Police officer Guillermo Solorzano was seized by the FARC.
(AP, 6/4/07)(AP, 12/23/10)
2007 Jun 4, In Germany hundreds of protesters clashed with police ahead of this week's G8 meeting, as anti-globalization activists challenged attempts by security officials to keep them away from the summit town of Heiligendamm. Nearly 1000 officers and protesters were already injured in clashes.
(AP, 6/4/07)(WSJ, 6/4/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Emerging economic powers India and Brazil pledged to increase bilateral trade four-fold to 10 billion dollars in the next three years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The NY Times said US-led forces have control of fewer than one-third of Baghdad's neighborhoods despite thousands of extra troops nearly four months into a security crackdown. Insurgents posted a video claiming to have killed the 3 US soldiers who went missing May 12. The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. was later recovered; a year later Spc. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty remained missing. Iraqi police said at least 6 people were killed and 14 were wounded in 3 separate bombings in Baghdad. At least 16 other people were killed or found dead in attacks elsewhere, including a pregnant woman who died in a mortar barrage targeting a US base in Fallujah.
(AP, 6/4/07)(SFC, 6/5/07, p.A13)(AP, 6/4/08)
2007 Jun 4, Violence sparked by a two-week old confrontation between the Lebanese army and al-Qaida inspired militants spread to a second Palestinian refugee camp in the southern part of the country, killing two soldiers.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Experts warned at a conference in Nepal's capital that Himalayan glaciers are retreating fast and could disappear within the next 50 years.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Thousands of survivors of Europe's worst massacre since World War II filed a lawsuit against the UN and the Dutch government for their failure to protect civilians in the Srebrenica safe haven when Bosnian Serb forces overran it in 1995 and slaughtered some 8,000 men.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Charles Taylor boycotted the start of his Liberia war-crimes trial at the Hague.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, The Nigerian police said military troops stormed a hideout in Ebonyi state and freed one of two Chinese workers abducted by unknown gunmen on Mar 17.
(AFP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, Oman evacuated an island as Cyclone Gonu drew near the Persian Gulf.
(WSJ, 6/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Pres. Musharraf signed a decree giving a government regulating agency stronger powers over the news media and the ability to rewrite regulations without recourse to Parliament. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf after the alleged blocking of three private television news channels by the Pakistani authorities. Police arrested Attaur Rehman and Faisal Bhatti in Kashmor, a town about 300 miles northeast of Karachi, in association with the 2002 murder of Daniel Pearl. Police later said the 2 men had been in custody since 2002.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.A4)(AFP, 6/4/07)(AP, 6/5/07)(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 4, Senegal defended the low poll turnout used by critics to put a question mark on the legitimacy of weekend legislative elections, saying the west African nation had never had enthusiastic voters. A 17-party opposition grouping had called for an unprecedented boycott of the ballot, which looked set to be won by President Abdoulaye Wade's ruling party.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Somalia Ethiopian troops fired at a would-be suicide bomber speeding toward their base, blowing up the car and killing the bomber and a civilian standing nearby.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) said a study of mortality patterns in South Africa, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania and Senegal indicated Africa's HIV/AIDS crisis was reaching deep into elected governments.
(Reuters, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, South African police fired stun grenades and made a dozen arrests as they cracked down on union hardliners who were preventing nurses from turning up for work at a hospital in Durban.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, The TED organization (Technology, Entertainment, Design) gathered in Tanzania for a 4 day session to discuss ideas for helping the poor of Africa.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.55)(www.ted.com/pages/view/id/49)
2007 Jun 4, Seven Turkish paramilitary police were killed when Kurdish militants attacked their headquarters in eastern Tunceli province.
(AP, 6/4/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 4, The UN warned in a report that up to 12% of Arctic ice has turned to water in the past 30 years, an alarming fact that only accelerates global warming further.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jun 4, In Venezuela thousands of university students, their hands painted white as a symbol of nonviolence returned to the streets of Caracas, keeping up a week of protests against President Hugo Chavez's decision to force a popular TV station off the air.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, US President George W. Bush sought to soothe Moscow's fury at Washington's plans to extend its anti-missile shield in Europe, saying in Prague on the eve of the G8 summit that Russia was "not our enemy."
(AFP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for perjury and obstruction, in a case which also put a glaring spotlight on the flawed US case for waging war against Iraq. President Bush later commuted the prison sentence.
(AFP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/5/08)
2007 Jun 5, Coca-Cola Co. at the World Wildlife Foundation's annual meeting in Beijing announced it is funding a $20 million project to conserve seven major rivers worldwide and also will revamp its bottling practices to reduce pollution and water use.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, A passenger train and truck collided at a rail crossing in southern Australia, killing 11 people and injuring up to 50.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, In Bolivia the judiciary stage a one-day strike to counter a presidential assault on its independence.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.41)
2007 Jun 5, The governor of Brazil's Amazon state signed into law legislation aimed at curbing global warming in an area bigger than France and Spain combined.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, China joined Russia in criticizing a US plan to build a missile defense system in Europe, saying the system could set off an arms race.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Tony Mokbel (42), a top Australian fugitive, was arrested in Greece. The next day he accused Australia's authorities of saddling him with a bogus murder charge to secure his extradition. Mokbel had fled overseas in 2006 while on bail for importing cocaine.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, Alert guards gunned down a black-clad woman at a police recruiting station in Baghdad, a would-be suicide bomber who then exploded before their eyes. Another bomber in Amiriyah killed at least 15 people at a gathering of tribal leaders opposed to al-Qaida in the volatile Anbar province. Gunmen assassinated a local leader of Muqtada al-Sadr's radical Shiite Muslim faction south of Baghdad, and to the north insurgents ambushed an Iraqi army vehicle, killing an undetermined number of soldiers. Police Maj. Enad Khattab was shot and killed along with his brother as they drove in central Beiji about 155 miles north of Baghdad.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/6/07)(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 5, Kenyan police overnight killed more than 20 suspected members of Mungiki, an outlawed religious sect, accused in a string of beheadings and the deaths of two police officers in the Mathare slum the previous day.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Pakistani police said they have filed a preliminary complaint against about 200 journalists for defying a ban on rallies in the capital by protesting curbs on the media, the latest sign of government intolerance of coverage of a political crisis.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Rwanda said it will withdraw from the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC) because it hampers Kigali's membership in other regional blocs.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 5, Serbian authorities began excavating what appeared to be a mass grave, at an abandoned quarry on a border zone between Serbia and Kosovo, containing the bodies of more than 350 Kosovo Albanians. Witnesses reported seeing four trucks unload bodies in the area of Raska, near the border with Kosovo in 1999 during a Serbian crackdown. A 3-day search yielded no human remains.
(AP, 6/5/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 5, In Spain the Basque separatist group ETA called off its 15-month-old cease-fire, formalizing what many saw as the demise of a once-promising peace process already struck down by a deadly bombing in December.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Spanish media said a court has ordered police to capture and search two vessels belonging to a Florida firm that recently announced it had found a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean laden with an estimated $500 million worth of Colonial-era treasure.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Abdel Nur, a Guyanese national and the fourth suspect in an alleged plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, surrendered in Trinidad.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, Zimbabwe's electricity provider raised tariffs for both domestic and commercial customers by 50 percent at a time when a major outage has left large parts of the country without power.
(AP, 6/5/07)
2007 Jun 5, A Vatican engineer said some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Bob Barker taped his last episode of CBS' "The Price Is Right."
(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, The United States said it has canceled the visas of 22 Costa Rican immigration officials suspected of selling visa stamps so that Costa Ricans could stay illegally in the US without getting caught.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Los Angeles based Colony Capital LLC, private investment firm, said it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Libyan state-owned Tamoil in a deal that valued the Italy-based refiner at 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion), double earlier estimates. Colony, founded in 1991 by Thomas Barrack, focuses on real estate-related assets, securities, and operating companies. In March, 2008, the deal was reported to be off.
(Reuters, 6/6/07)(Reuters, 3/3/08)
2007 Jun 6, Adam Gault (41), a dog trainer in Bloomfield, Conn., was arrested with two women who lived in his home after police with a search warrant found a missing 15-year-old girl locked in a hidden room in the house. The girl had vanished last June. Gault later pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, Police arrested a man in the abduction and death of 18-year-old Kelsey Smith, whose body was found in a Missouri park four days after she'd disappeared from a Kansas store's parking lot.
(AP, 6/6/08)
2007 Jun 6, The Ducks of Florida won the Stanley Cup in game 5 over the Senators.
(WSJ, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 6, In southern Afghanistan 2 NATO soldiers died battling militants, while US-led and Afghan troops backed by airstrikes killed two militants and detained nine others. In northern Afghanistan 3 gunmen fatally shot a female owner of a radio station. A battle and airstrikes in southern Afghanistan left 30 suspected Taliban dead or wounded.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Algeria one person was killed and 8 injured in a powerful bomb blast in the Kabylie region.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, The CAR government freed 17 people who had been arrested for rebel activities, following the terms of a peace accord that aims to return the restive nation to stability after more than a year of sporadic insurgency.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, In north China Song Pingshun (61), head of Tianjin's advisory committee to the national legislature, died in an apparent suicide amid a probe into alleged bribe-taking and shady real estate deals by at least three high-level officials.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 6, Colombia’s Pres. Uribe arrived in Washington DC for his 2nd lobbying trip in a month. A US congressional sub-committee had voted to cut aid by 10% and shift it from military to social programs.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.44)
2007 Jun 6, President Oscar Arias announced that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China, delivering a blow to the Asian island's fragile international standing.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In the Dominican Rep. a gym teacher opened fire at a school, killing one student and wounding another before using the gun to take his own life.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, PM Andrus Ansip said Estonia is seeking help from Russia to find the culprits behind a massive wave of attacks on the country's Internet infrastructure.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Housing prices in the major cities of Estonia, Latia and Lithuania were reported to average around $202,375.
(WSJ, 6/6/07, p.B9)
2007 Jun 6, A government prosecutor said Ethiopia has charged 55 opposition members with trying to launch a rebellion. More than one hundred opposition figures were already on trial, accused of plotting a coup after disputed 2005 elections.
(AFP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, German police used water cannon to scatter stone-throwing demonstrators as several thousand protesters gathered at a seven-mile fence surrounding the G8 summit meeting involving President Bush and other leaders.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Car bombings shook the streets leading to Baghdad's most revered Shiite Muslim shrine, and police reported at least seven people were killed and 27 others wounded. Assassins killed a police official and an aide to Iraq's pre-eminent Shiite cleric. A Sunni insurgent group said it has reached a cease-fire with al-Qaida in Iraq. 4 US soldiers were killed in separate incidents over the last 2 days.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Malaysia Nyambang Entuhan (37) shot and killed five people during a wedding reception on remote Borneo island. In 2010 he was sentenced to death as well as to 22 years in prison for wounding nine others and illegal firearm possession.
(AP, 5/8/10)(http://tinyurl.com/22qhgzv)
2007 Jun 6, It was reported that Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors. The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2). Alcohol powder, classified as a flavoring, was sold in the United States three years ago.
(Reuters, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Nigeria's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won Britain's Orange Prize for fiction by women for her book “Half of a Yellow Sun," becoming the first African to take the award in its 12-year history.
(AP, 6/6/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 6, A Palestinian security force fanned out in two neighborhoods of the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon to prevent further clashes between Islamic militants and Lebanese troops. Maj. Gen. Khaled Aref, a senior Fatah commander based in Ein el-Hilweh, said on Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television that about 20 Fatah Islam fighters had surrendered to his group in besieged Nahr el-Bared.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Morocco said scientists from Morocco, Britain, France and Germany had dated perforated shells in a limestone cave in eastern Morocco to 82,000 years ago, the oldest adornments ever found.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, A senior official said Nigeria's anti-graft agency has summoned 15 former governors over corruption charges involving millions of dollars and they are due to appear before investigators.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Cyclone Gonu battered Oman's coast on its path toward the world's most important crude oil tanker route. It waned after killing 49 in Oman and 9 people in Iran, where severe flooding encircled over 100 villages.
(AP, 6/7/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 6, Pakistan's PM Shaukat Aziz ordered the immediate withdrawal of complaints initiated against about 200 journalists after they defied a ban on rallies to protest curbs on the media.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse held talks in Colombo with a top Japanese envoy on the future of the island's peace process following bloody recent clashes. A bomb detonated by suspected Tamil rebels derailed a train in eastern Sri Lanka.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, A premature report said several thousand Turkish troops had crossed into northern Iraq to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there. Turkey declared several areas near the border with Iraq to be "temporary security zones" in a sign of increasing activity by the military in its campaign against Kurdish rebels. Turkey's foreign minister denied there was a cross-border operation.
(AP, 6/6/07)(AP, 6/7/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.58)
2007 Jun 6, The UN and African Union chief executives resolved a dispute over command of a proposed joint military force to help end bloodshed in Darfur, but the deal still must be approved by their organizations' security councils and Sudan's government.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Jun 6, President Hugo Chavez called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia. The leftist Latin American bloc announced the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, The US Senate’s immigration overhaul died on a procedural vote, killed by Democrats and Republicans alike.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that US prosecutors have opened an inquiry into allegations that a Kuwaiti contractor used foreign workers against their will in building the US Embassy in Baghdad.
(WSJ, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, Sanjaya Bahel (57), former UN chief of the Commodity Procurement Section (1999-2003), was convicted in NYC of helping a friend secure $100 million in UN contracts in exchange for a huge discount on two luxury apartments in Manhattan and cash.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A10)
2007 Jun 7, A coalition of human rights groups published the names of 39 terror suspects it believes are being secretly imprisoned by US authorities.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, After three days in jail for a reckless-driving probation violation, Paris Hilton was released by Los Angeles County sheriff's officials because of an undisclosed medical condition to be sent home under house arrest. The next day, a judge ordered Hilton back to jail.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 7, Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes, produced baseball-size hail and dropped more than 6 inches of rain across the Upper Midwest, killing a swimmer in Illinois. Four people in Wisconsin were injured, none seriously. A northern Wisconsin resort was demolished by one of at least five tornadoes that swept across the state.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, PepsiCo Inc., the nation's second biggest soft drink company, and an affiliated Midwest-based beverage bottler said they will pay $542 million for an 80% stake in Sandora LLC, a Ukraine-based juice company.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 6, Scientists reported how it might be possible to turn an ordinary skin cell into an embryonic stem cell.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, A study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said vitamin D is a powerful cancer fighter, cutting some types by 60% in elderly women.
(WSJ, 6/8/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that UCSF researchers had identified a new species of bacteria, Bartonella rochalimae, in an American tourist who was sickened after spending 3 weeks trekking in Peru. It was named after Henrique da Rocha-Lima, a Brazilian scientist who decades ago identified the bacterium that causes typhus.
(SFC, 6/7/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 7, A new study showed that Yoga's postures, controlled breathing and meditation may work together to help ease brains plagued by anxiety or depression.
(www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=604890)
2007 Jun 7, In Afghanistan 6 people were arrested in the killing of a woman who owned a radio station. 4 kidnapped Afghan medical workers were released after the body of a slain top Taliban commander was retrieved by his family. Suspected militants attacked a government compound in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, killing a policeman and wounding 3 others. An Afghan soldier was killed in a mine explosion in Zabul province. In eastern Nangarhar province, coalition and Afghan troops killed a militant during a firefight in Khogyani district. In Arghistan district, a police operation against Taliban fighters killed or wounded nine of the militants. In Zabul province, a two-hour gun battle killed one policeman and four Taliban.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Arghistan district, a police operation against Taliban fighters killed or wounded nine of the militants. In Zabul province, a two-hour gun battle killed one policeman and four Taliban.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, British media reported that Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan pocketed about $2 billion in secret payments as part of an $80 billion arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia first signed in 1985.
(SFC, 6/8/07, p.A16)
2007 Jun 7, The Bollywood Oscars was formally launched in England.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Europe's first train operated on environmentally friendly bio-fuel went into service with PM-designate Gordon Brown traveling on its maiden journey. The train, modified to run on a blended fuel which is 20% bio-diesel, will travel across England, south Wales and Scotland during a six-month experiment that has been organized by Virgin Trains.
(AFP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the G8 has agreed on a plan calling for "substantial cuts" to greenhouse gas emissions. Riot police used water cannons to turn protesters away from the fence surrounding the Group of Eight summit. G8 leaders reached an agreement on climate change, adopting a statement that says they should "seriously consider" proposals to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2050. Russian President Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a US missile shield in Europe, told President Bush that Moscow would drop its objections if the radar-based system were installed in Azerbaijan.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/7/08)
2007 Jun 7, A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden truck at a police station in Rabia, near Iraq's border with Syria, killing at least 4 policemen and 5 civilians, and wounding 22 other people. In Ramadi 3 policemen were killed and four others wounded when a suicide driver blew up his automobile at their checkpoint. In Baghdad's eastern Sadr City district, a bomb beneath a parked car exploded at lunchtime outside a falafel restaurant. At least three people were killed and eight wounded. Mortar shells landing in two districts of western Baghdad killed two civilians and wounded 12 others. An Iraqi journalist was shot to death while she was waiting for a taxi in the northern city of Mosul. Iraq's bombings, shootings, mortar attacks and execution-style killings left at least 63 Iraqis dead nationwide. They included 32 unidentified men who were handcuffed, blindfolded and shot to death in Baghdad, apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads usually run by Shiite militias.
(AP, 6/7/07)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, It was reported that police and security forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have destroyed hundreds of acres of poppy fields and arrested 125 people.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Gunfights erupted in a Nairobi slum, killing at least 10 people, as police conducted house-to-house searches for members of an outlawed sect accused of terrorizing Kenyans and leaving behind a string of beheaded corpses.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In eastern Lebanon troops discovered three vehicles rigged with explosives during a raid on a hideout.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Thousands of lawyers, journalists and opposition activists staged a sit-in protest in the Pakistani city of Lahore, demanding President Gen. Pervez Musharraf resign for suspending a popular Supreme Court judge and enacting restrictions on the media.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, A battle between gunmen from Hamas and Fatah in the Gaza Strip left one Fatah man dead before daybreak.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, The US ambassador to the Philippines handed over a $10 million reward to four Filipino informants whose tip led to the killing of the country's two top terror suspects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, An international conservation group said Russia has established the Zov Tigra National Park to protect Siberian tigers. According to the WWF the 200,000-acre park will protect the big cat's habitat while simultaneously allowing for nature tourism.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, South Africa launched a new scheme by which citizens in crime-ridden areas will be able to use text messages to anonymously tip-off the police. South African police used stun grenades and a water cannon to disperse striking hospital workers in the port city of Durban as a crippling public sector strike entered its 7th day.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Spain Monzer al-Kassar (61), a Syrian arms dealer previously accused of arming militants from Iraq to Somalia, was arrested on suspicion of plotting to send millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombian rebels. A federal indictment unsealed in NYC said al-Kassar has provided weapons and military equipment to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq. Tareq Mousa al Ghazi and Luis Filipe Moreno Godoy, also included in the indictment, were arrested in Romania.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 7, Police in Sri Lanka's capital rounded up hundreds of ethnic Tamils deemed a threat to security and bused them to Tamil regions in the north and east of the country.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, In Switzerland all 19 managers and consultants accused in the collapse of former national carrier Swissair were acquitted and will receive compensation totaling more than $2 million.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 7, Zimbabwe received 15 million dollars worth of anti-retroviral drugs from the United States government to bolster its fight against HIV and AIDS.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The US froze bank accounts of four Iran banks tied to Tehran’s nuclear efforts. Iran confirmed for the first time that it is holding Ali Shakeri of Lake Forest, Calif., an Iranian-American peace activist, the fourth dual citizen it has detained in recent months.
(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that bitter divisions over the Iraq war on Capitol Hill led the Bush administration to replace Gen. Peter Pace with Adm. Mike Mullen, currently chief of naval operations.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Mary Winkler, who'd killed her preacher husband with a shotgun blast to the back as he lay in bed, was sentenced in Selmer, Tenn., to three years in prison. She ended up serving 67 days in custody, 12 in jail and the rest in a mental health facility.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 8, Paris Hilton was sent screaming and crying back to jail after a judge in Los Angeles ruled she had to serve out her sentence for a probation violation behind bars rather than under house arrest.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 8, A European investigator issued a report saying the CIA ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005 to interrogate detainees in the war on terror.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Two inmates escaped while working at the Montana State Prison ranch near Deer Lodge. On June 13 authorities captured Kelly A. Frank and William J. Willcutt. Frank was once accused of plotting to kidnap the son and nanny of David Letterman.
(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 8, A patched-up Atlantis blasted off with seven astronauts on the first space shuttle flight of 2007, an 11-day space station-building mission.
(AP, 6/8/07)(WSJ, 6/9/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 8, Thomas G. Ayers (b.1915), former chief executive of Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison, died. Ayers retired a year after the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island.
(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 8, Richard Rorty (b.1931), philosophy professor, died in Palo Alto, Ca. His books included “Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature" (1979). In 2008 Neil Gross authored “Richard Rorty: The Making of an American Philosopher."
(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A2)(Econ, 6/14/08, p.103)
2007 Jun 8, Afghan Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabet, a critic of some of the country's factional leaders and former warlords, was set upon in the middle of a traffic jam just outside Kabul by Gen. Din Mohammad Jurat, a senior official at the Interior Ministry. A roadside bomb exploded in Kandahar's Panjwayi district, killing three police officers and wounding four in a police vehicle. In the Spin Boldak district a roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded three others in a border police vehicle.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that Azerbaijan is ready to consider proposed joint US-Russian use of a radar facility in the country as part of a missile defense system.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, A wild storm lashed Australia's east coast, killing at least five people. The Pasha Bulker, massive coal ship, was pushed onto a sand bank off the port city of Newcastle, some 90 miles north of Sydney.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Royal Navy's largest and most powerful attack submarine, the giant nuclear-powered HMS Astute, was given a beery royal launch.
(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Chile former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was put back under house arrest, a day after a Chilean prosecutor recommended his extradition to face charges of human rights abuses and corruption in his home country.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In southern China thousands of workers, mostly women, at a plastic Christmas tree factory clashed with police after a 10-day strike.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Germany the leaders of the G8 met with African leaders on their summit's concluding day, agreeing on a $60 billion package to fight disease in Africa as diplomats worked behind the scenes on a possible deal with Russia over Kosovo's future. The G8 powers called for action against "the perpetrators of atrocities" in Darfur and said it would back UN action against the Sudanese government and rebel groups if the conflict is not ended. President Bush was ill and stayed in his room after meeting privately with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported that the student wing of the Shiv Sena party, a right-wing Hindu group, has asked public Internet centers in India to partly block access to Orkut, and is making a software to monitor abusive communities on the popular social networking site operated by Google.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Indonesia Dago Simamora (59), a junior high-school teacher in South Sumatra, was shot dead by a killer on a motorcycle. It was later alleged that he was killed because he was accused of trying to convert girls in his class to Christianity. In 2009 ten members of the Palembang jihadist group that killed him were jailed on terrorism charges. One member said: “Dago Simamora was killed because he forbade his students to wear headscarves at school."
(Econ, 9/12/09, SR p.8)(http://tinyurl.com/mdzqrl)
2007 Jun 8, Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief's house outside Baqouba at dawn, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children. A parked minibus exploded at a bus terminal in the town of Qurnah, and a hospital director said at least 16 people were killed and 32 wounded. Bombings struck a Shiite mosque in a town near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, killing at least 13 people and wounding 14. Unknown gunmen speeding by in the northern city of Kirkuk shot and killed a soldier, Adnan Mahmoud, as he drove with his 2-year-old daughter. The child also was killed.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Italy the first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program opened in the absence of all 26 American defendants accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terrorist suspect.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Japanese government donated 9.25 million dollars (6.42 million euros) to UNICEF to support its child survival programs in Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Japan’s Inamori Foundation announced that a California-based earthquake scientist, Japanese chemist and German choreographer have won the $410,000 Kyoto Prize for achievement in the arts and sciences. The basic sciences award went to Hiroo Kanamori of the California Institute of Technology for his research on major earthquakes along the Pacific Rim; Hiroo Inokuchi at the University of Tokyo received the advanced technology award for his work in organic electronics; German choreographer Pina Bausch was awarded the arts and philosophy prize for her pioneering work in developing a new genre of ballet dubbed "Tanztheater," or dance theater. The prizes were awarded on Nov 10.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 11/11/07)
2007 Jun 8, Lebanese troops battled al-Qaida-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp where violence has raged for three weeks. The clashes in northern Lebanon came hours after a bombing in a Christian town northeast of Beirut killed at least one man.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, It was reported that Libya, citing cost and liability concerns, has informed the United States of plans to back out of a contract to destroy its mustard gas stocks as promised under a landmark 2003 agreement.
(Reuters, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, In Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province 3 people were killed and five wounded when a roadside bomb blasted a passing bus.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, South Korea lifted a de facto ban on American beef imports, after the US confirmed that only two shipments meant for domestic consumption were exported mistakenly.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, Spanish police arrested Arnaldo Otegi (48), the Basque separatist movement's most prominent politician, on a court order for him to start serving a 15-month sentence for defending terrorism. A judge indicted 32 people on charges of belonging to or collaborating with a militant group working in Spain to recruit fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq.
(AP, 6/8/07)(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 8, Sri Lanka's highest court ordered police to stop expelling Tamils from the capital.
(AP, 6/8/07)
2007 Jun 8, The Zimbabwean government published a draft bill to amend the country's constitution, provide for harmonized presidential and parliamentary polls and reduce the presidential term. A party spokesman said 11 Zimbabwean opposition supporters, who had been detained for two months for an alleged "terrorism" plot, have been released after a court ordered the charges to be dropped.
(AFP, 6/8/07)(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI discussed the pontiff's deep worries that Christians in Iraq would not be embraced by the Muslim majority. Bush, denounced by anti-American protesters on the streets of Rome, defended his humanitarian record as he met with the Pope. Bush met with PM Prodi for the first time several hours after seeing the pope.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/9/08)
2007 Jun 9, The Hawaiian canoe Hokulea sailed into the Japanese port of Yokohama, completing a five-month journey of more than 8,500 miles across the Pacific.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In NY the filly Rags to Riches outdueled Preakness winner Curlin in a breathtaking stretch run and won the Belmont Stakes by a head.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Delavan, Wisconsin, a shooting inside a home killed six people including twin baby boys. A 1-year-old daughter was found wounded in a nearby vehicle. Place later said Ambrosio Analco committed the murder and suicide.
(AP, 6/10/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 9, Boeing and Aeroflot signed a deal for the Russian carrier to acquire 22 Dreamliner jets from the American plane maker.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, J.L. Wade, Illinois bird house maven, died in Arizona. In 1963 he built his first purple martin bird houses in Griggsville, Illinois.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 9, In Afghanistan militants attacked three separate posts in Murghab district of Badghis province, sparking a six-hour long battle that left 20 suspected Taliban and two police killed. In southern Zabul province, NATO and Afghan troops clashed with militants and called in airstrikes, leaving 27 suspected Taliban insurgents dead in the district of Shinkay.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, Officials from Algeria and the US signed a protocol agreement which will pave the way towards closer cooperation on civilian nuclear energy.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Bosnia Karray Kamel bin Ali, alias Abu Hamza, Tunisian-born radical Islamist, was arrested near Zenica. This was several hours after he and possibly three or four others attacked a house owned by Zijad Kovac. 3 family members were wounded.
(http://isaintel.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45)
2007 Jun 9, China said it had rejected a shipment of pistachios from the US because it contained ants, the latest indication the government may be retaliating as Chinese products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns. Xinhua news agency said rain storms and floods have killed at least 40 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, A Cairo court ruled that a private Egyptian university can not ban a visiting student from entering its premises in full Islamic veil.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, An Egyptian girl (10) who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus died, bringing the number of fatalities from the disease in the most populous Arab country to 15.
(Reuters, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said his government had launched a crackdown on a rebel group blamed for several attacks in the country's eastern Ogaden region. It was reported that the World Food Program and others were launching the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange (ECEX).
(AFP, 6/9/07)(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 9, Recent large seizures of cocaine confirmed that Guinea-Bissau had become a major drug distribution hub. The cocaine from Latin America arrived by boat and plane and was sent on to markets mostly in Europe. Guinea-Bissau’s army controlled the local trade.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.54)(Econ, 4/21/12, p.64)
2007 Jun 9, Indian officials said a group claiming to represent the al-Qaida terror network declared a holy war on India over its partial control of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Indonesian police captured Abu Dujana (37), a leader of the Southeast Asian terror network blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and a string of other devastating attacks in recent years. Indonesian police also captured Zarkasih (37), aka Mbah, the head of Southeast Asian extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for some of the deadliest terror attacks in the region.
(AFP, 6/13/07)(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 9, An apparent rocket attack at the US-run Camp Bucca detention facility in southern Iraq killed at least six detainees and wounded 50. 2 suicide bombers on foot blew themselves up at a police checkpoint at an intersection in Baqouba, killing a policeman and wounding three. A suicide car bomber driving a tanker truck struck an Iraqi army checkpoint at Iskandariyah, killing at least 13 soldiers. Gunmen in a speeding car opened fire on police on a foot patrol in Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding another. A parked car exploded as a police patrol drove by in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing two people and wounding 7. Clashes between American troops and Shiite militia left at least 5 people dead. An American soldier was killed by small-arms fire in Diyala province. The identification cards of two American soldiers missing since an attack on their unit in May were found in an al-Qaida safe house north of Baghdad, along with video production equipment, computers and weapons.
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 9, Jordanian police exchanged gunfire with a small group of armed men suspected of stealing electricity and water in a town near the Israeli border. One of the gunmen was killed and several were arrested.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, A concrete wall collapsed onto a maze of homes in a Kenyan slum, killing at least 10 people, including three babies.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Palestinian gunmen from Gaza broke through Israel's border fortifications and battled Israeli troops near an army post. Israeli Army Radio said troops killed one of the raiders. Medics at a northern Gaza Strip hospital walked off their jobs for a few hours to protest the kidnapping and shooting of a doctor by Palestinian militants, the first physician targeted in months of deadly infighting.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Lebanon's army pounded Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in renewed heavy clashes following a few days of intermittent fighting.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf withdrew new curbs on media covering Pakistan's growing political crisis, backing down after a week of nationwide protests by journalists and opposition parties. Pakistan said it will join an international initiative aimed at keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. The initiative, however, only applies to civilian "facilities and activities."
(AP, 6/9/07)(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, The Philippines and Laos, during a visit of Laotian PM Bouasone Bouphavanh, signed an agreement hoping to boost the minuscule trade between them and encourage their first investment links.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, In Romania police used tear gas against protesters who hurled stones at the annual gay rights parade in Bucharest.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Russia's most vocal opposition movement, headed by former chess champion Garry Kasparov, demonstrated in St. Petersburg without police violence or interference for the first time in months of protests.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 9, Ousmane Sembene (84), Senegalese writer and film maker, died. He was often called the “Father of African Cinema." His 1st novel was “Le Docker Noir" (1956). His first feature film was “Le Noire de …" (Black Girl), made in 1966.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.D5)
2007 Jun 9, Thailand deported 163 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos who authorities said had entered the country illegally in recent years trying to reach a large refugee camp.
(AP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, Venezuelan authorities seized 2.5 tons of cocaine bound for Africa and arrested nine suspects including four federal police officers and a US citizen.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, HBO concluded "The Sopranos," created by David Chase, with its 86th show since 1999.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, "Spring Awakening" was named best musical at the Tony Awards; "The Coast of Utopia," best play.
(AP, 6/10/08)
2007 Jun 10, The crews of Atlantis and the international space station greeted each other after the space shuttle arrived at the orbiting outpost.
(AP, 6/10/08)
2007 Jun 10, In central Afghanistan Taliban militants fired rockets near a school yard where President Hamid Karzai was meeting with local leaders and residents in an apparent assassination attempt, but no one was hurt.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, President Bush in Albania, the 1st visit there by an American president, said the UN should grant independence quickly to the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, and that if Russia continued to block it the West would act. Albania issued three postage stamps with Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty, renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor, awarded him the highest National Flag medal and Fushe Kruje town council also declared him an honored citizen.
(Reuters, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 10, Algerian security forces said they have arrested 13 minors and dismantled a suspected training camp used by an al-Qaeda linked group east of the capital Algiers.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Belgians voted in legislative elections widely expected to hand defeat to PM Guy Verhofstadt, dashing his hopes for a third term after eight years in office.
(AFP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In Brazil millions of people packed the streets of Sao Paulo for what organizers said was the world's largest gay pride parade, dancing and waving rainbow flags in a carnival-like atmosphere to condemn homophobia, racism and sexism.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In Brunei a two-week lavish wedding celebration for the daughter of Brunei's sultan, one of the world's richest men, culminated in a ceremony steeped in the royal tradition.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A human rights group issued a report saying China is forcing nomadic Tibetan herders to settle in towns to clear land for development, leaving many unable to earn a living.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In southern Colombia 2 drunken soldiers shot and killed six civilians, including a nine-year old boy, after arguing with guests at a party.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, New Episcopal Bishop Nerva Cot Aguilera, the church's first female bishop in Cuba and the developing world, was consecrated at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Havana.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, France held parliamentary elections. President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to revive France's economy and its identity stood their first test, with voters widely expected to give allies of their new conservative leader a mandate for change. In round one of Sarkozy’s UMP party won 39.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition Socialists had 24.7 percent. The results gave the conservatives a strong advantage heading into the decisive runoff next Sunday.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, The first high-speed rail link between France and Germany began scheduled services, slashing travel times and marking a major step towards a truly pan-European rapid transit network.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, In northern Iraq a suicide truck bomber struck an Iraqi police agency in Tikrit, killing at least 10 people. A roadside bomb struck a police patrol near a gas station in Balad Ruz, killing one policeman and wounding 6 other people. A suicide car bomber smashed into a police patrol about 12 miles south of the provincial capital of Baqouba, killing two policemen and wounding 3. A village police chief northeast of Baqouba was abducted by gunmen who ambushed his car. Gunmen elsewhere in Diyala province killed two policemen and a civilian in separate attacks in a Shiite enclave A roadside bomb killed a US airman and wounded another in southern Iraq. A suicide strike on a vital bridge outside Baghdad killed 3 American soldiers guarding the span.
(AP, 6/10/07)(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 10, Israeli aircraft fired on militant targets in Gaza City in predawn airstrikes, hours after Palestinian gunmen breached Israel's heavily fortified Gaza border and tried to capture an Israeli soldier. Rival Palestinian forces clashed in Gaza. 2 militants were killed after being thrown out of high-rise buildings.
(AP, 6/10/07)(SFC, 6/11/07, p.A7)
2007 Jun 10, Former Polish president and Nobel laureate Lech Walesa said he has published on the Internet about 500 pages of files kept on him by the communist-era secret police in order to disprove allegations he collaborated with them in the 1980s.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for creating an alternative to the World Trade Organization that would favor developing economies and suggested giving a greater role to regional currencies.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, A small bomb exploded outside a clothing shop in Istanbul, injuring 14 people and shattering nearby windows.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 10, Sweden’s telecoms network firm Ericsson signed a framework agreement to provide $1 billion worth of networking equipment to China Mobile Communications Corp.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Jun 11, Pres. Bush arrived in Bulgaria and met with President Georgi Parvanov.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Republicans blocked a Senate no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, rejecting a symbolic Democratic effort to force him from office amid blistering criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
(AP, 6/11/08)
2007 Jun 11, A divided panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said the Bush administration could not use new anti-terrorism laws to keep US residents locked up indefinitely without charging them.
(AP, 6/11/08)
2007 Jun 11, NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city will incorporate biofuel made from corn and soybeans into oil used to heat city buildings starting in 2008.
(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Texas 3 National Guardsmen were arraigned on charges of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 11, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig (62) was arrested by a plainclothes officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis airport. The conservative three-term senator pleaded guilty on Aug 8, paid $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year.
(AP, 8/28/07)
2007 Jun 11, The Blackstone IPO filing said CEO Stephen Schwarzman (60) made $398 million in 2006. He stood to make another $677 million in the IPO.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.C1)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.C3)
2007 Jun 11, Yahoo Inc. said China should not punish people for expressing their political views on the Internet, a day after the mother of a Chinese reporter announced she was suing the US company for helping officials imprison her son.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Mala Powers (b.1931), American film star, died in Burbank, Ca. Her films included Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and “Outrage" (1950).
(SFC, 6/14/07, p.B4)
2007 Jun 11, In Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province, a suicide car bomber blew himself up as police were approaching to search his vehicle at a checkpoint in Gurbuz district. The US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 24 suspected Taliban fighters during a battle in the south.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 11, In southeastern Bangladesh at least 130 people were killed in Chittagong and other districts and many others were injured in mudslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains.
(AFP, 6/11/07)(AFP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 11, Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt's Liberal-Socialist coalition government resigned, a day after conservatives, led by Christian Democrats, posted big gains in general elections.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Bosnia thousands of survivors of Europe's worst massacre since WW II protested in Sarajevo, demanding a special administrative status for the town of Srebrenica and saying it should not be run by Bosnian Serb authorities who were responsible for genocide there.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In London, England, Mahmod Mahmod (52), a Kurdish father who ordered his daughter brutally slain for falling in love with the wrong man in a so-called "honor killing," was found guilty of murder. In early 2006 Banaz Mahmod (20) was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a back garden. In 2007 Mahmod Mahmod, and uncle Ari Mahmod, were sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Jun 11, Cuba's largest foreign investor, Canada’s Sherritt International Corp., saw business running smoothly under acting President Raul Castro and will push ahead with a $1.2 billion expansion in nickel mining, and oil and electricity production.
(Reuters, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In the Central African Republic a French aid worker for Doctors Without Borders was shot and killed while traveling to a town grappling with poor health conditions.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened to cancel the contracts of companies using child labor and violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products. The country's chief veterinarian said Blue ear disease, blamed for a surge in politically sensitive pork prices, has spread to 22 Chinese provinces and regions. State media said Chinese authorities are investigating the widespread sale of fake blood protein to hospitals and pharmacies, a practice that deprives patients of a crucial medical need.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Police barred voters from polling stations and arrested about 100 opposition members, as Egyptians chose members of the upper chamber of parliament in an election marred by violence that killed one person. President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party won a majority of seats in elections for Egypt's upper house of parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the elections for their unprecedented fraud.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 11, An Ethiopian court convicted 38 opposition activists in a trial stemming from violent unrest that followed disputed elections in 2005.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Indonesia's tropical rain forests were disappearing 30 percent faster than previously estimated as illegal loggers raid national parks, threatening the long-term survival of orangutans, according to a new UN report.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Iran announced it will help build five new refineries across Asia with a total capacity of 1.1 million barrels per day in a bid to strengthen ties in the region. The refineries will be built in China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Syria.
(AFP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, The Iraqi Parliament voted in a closed session to remove the speaker after a series of embarrassing scandals involving the lawmaker. Mahmoud al-Mashhadani will be replaced by another Sunni Arab. Treasury chief Gordon Brown, Britain's next prime minister met with Iraqi leaders in a surprise visit following promises to study his country's participation in the conflict. A parked truck bomb destroyed a bridge carrying traffic over the Diyala River in Baqouba. At least 11 Iraqis were killed in attacks.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 11, Israel's military launched a spy satellite. A senior official suggested it could help keep track of developments in Iran.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Officials gathered in Kazakhstan for a 2-day meeting of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. 37 of 51 Global Initiative partner nations, along with the IAEA and European Union as observers, assessed current plans to enhance the partnership capacity of Global Initiative nations and discussed new ways to combat nuclear smuggling and other terrorist acts. 2 days of talks produced a 10-year action plan.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.68)(www.usembassy.kz/)
2007 Jun 11, In Kenya an explosion went off outside a hotel in downtown Nairobi during morning rush hour, killing two people, injuring more than 30.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In Lebanon 2 local Red Cross workers helping coordinate negotiations between the Lebanese army and Islamic militants were shot to death at the Nahr el-Bared camp. Fighting also killed 4 soldiers.
(AP, 6/11/07)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 11, Mexican police and soldiers arrested three men during an operation to fight illegal logging in a mountain region south of Mexico City where environmentalist Aldo Zamora (21) was killed on May 15.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, In the Netherlands an international conference on endangered species banned almost all trade in sawfish, large shark-like rays, whose long snouts bristling with teeth are in high demand among collectors.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Hostage takers in Nigeria's restive oil heartland released 13 captives, including three Americans.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 11, Fighting between Palestinian factions left 12 people dead.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A16)(WSJ, 6/12/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 11, In Ankara, Turkey, funerals for three soldiers killed in a roadside bombing by Kurdish rebels turned into anti-government protests as thousands of mourners called on leaders to resign over their failure to rein in the violence.
(AP, 6/11/07)
2007 Jun 12, President Bush went to Capitol Hill, where he prodded rebellious Senate Republicans to help resurrect legislation that could provide eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.
(AP, 6/12/08)
2007 Jun 12, The CDC said up to 75,000 US Marine family members may have drunk water at Camp Lejeune tainted by dry-cleaning fluid over a 30-year period.
(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)(www.atsdr.cdc.gov/sites/lejeune/)
2007 Jun 12, A report on CEO compensation said Terry Semel of Yahoo topped the list with $71.7 million in annual pay. Half of American CEO’s made over $8.3 million.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.C5)
2007 Jun 12, In SF Supervisor Ed Jew surrendered under charges that he lied about where he lived in order to run for office. Jew posted bail and was released. The SF school board approved a 3-year contract for Carlos Garcia offering the ex-superintendent of Nevada’s Clark County (Las Vegas) a salary of $255,000.
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/13/07, p.B4)
2007 Jun 12, In Texas Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader (25), an experienced soldier who lost contact during a training exercise on the sprawling Fort Hood Army base, was found dead after four days.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, Don Herbert (b.1917), who as television's "Mr. Wizard" introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science, died in California at his suburban Bell Canyon home.
(AP, 6/12/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 12, Afghan police in Nangarhar province mistook US troops on a nighttime mission for Taliban fighters and opened fire on them, prompting US forces to return fire and call in attack aircraft. 8 Afghan police were killed. Gunmen on motorbikes killed two schoolgirls in central Afghanistan. NATO and Afghan forces killed 12 Taliban fighters in Zabul province. A suicide bomber killed one policeman and wounded two in southern Helmand province.
(AP, 6/12/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, Australian PM John Howard agreed to meet the Dalai Lama after opponents charged he was afraid of offending China, drawing an immediate rebuke from Beijing. The Dalai Lama warned major nations not to try to contain China's economic and military rise, and urged countries like Australia to use their trading clout to pressure Beijing on human rights.
(AP, 6/12/07)(Reuters, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In Australia outraged victims in the Hunter and Central Coast areas north of Sydney said looters raided abandoned houses, businesses and cars during four days of violent storms, stealing everything from iPods to alcohol and cigarettes.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In London Chinua Achebe (76), a Nigerian novelist, won the Booker Int’l. Prize for fiction, awarded every 2 years for a body of fiction. He is best known for his 1st book “Things Fall Apart" (1958).
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.E5)
2007 Jun 12, In Kinshasa, DRC, delegates from 20 African countries began talks on the process of disarming and reintegrating former combatants to boost peace and development on the violence-wracked continent.
(AFP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Baron Guy de Rothschild (b.1909), French banker, died. He managed his family's French banking empire and saw it taken over first during the Nazi occupation and then by a Socialist government 40 years later.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 12, Germany wrapped up one aspect of its Nazi past by shutting down a forced labor fund that paid out more than 4.37 billion euros to 1.7 million elderly victims of the Hitler era around the world.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Haitian police and UN peacekeepers killed a suspected gang leader wanted in the kidnap-slaying of a French businessman.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In Bali, Indonesia, a gathering of religious leaders and victims of terrorist attacks, sponsored by the US Libforall Foundation, denounced Iran’s president for claiming the Holocaust was a myth.
(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun 12, Fierce clashes broke out between joint US-Iraqi forces and al-Qaida militants in Baqouba, leaving two Iraqi soldiers and six militants dead. Suspected Sunni insurgents bombed and badly damaged a span over the main north-south highway leading from Baghdad, the third bridge attack in as many days. Gunmen stormed the house of the Sunni mayor of Muqdadiyah, forcing the family members outside, then blowing up the house. The al-Qaida front group Islamic State in Iraq posted a video showing what it said were 14 captive members of the Iraqi security forces and threatening to kill them in 72 hours if their demands were not met. At least 45 people were killed or found dead including 9 soldiers and civilians in clashes and drive-by shootings.
(AP, 6/12/07)(SFC, 6/13/07, p.A10)
2007 Jun 12, Authorities said Italian police have recovered an ancient Greek temple dug up in southern Italy by a construction crew who had dumped or looted the prized artifacts and begun to pour cement over the ruins.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A team of Japanese researchers reported the development of a type of rice that can carry a vaccine for cholera. The vaccine would be delivered in a capsule or pill containing rice powder.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A11)
2007 Jun 12, Kurdish separatist rebels declared a "unilateral cease-fire" in attacks against Turkey and said they were ready for peace negotiations, but the group maintained the right to defend itself.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A senior official said security cameras are monitoring government workers in northeastern Malaysia to keep them from slacking off or vanishing for extended tea breaks.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, An official said Japan has agreed to offer direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, but will send it to president Mahmud Abbas and not Hamas militants.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, In the Netherlands the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted Milan Martic (52), a wartime leader of Croatia's rebel Serbs, of murder, torture and persecution and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for the 1991-1995 brutal ethnic cleansing campaign of non-Serbs in Croatia.
(AP, 6/12/07)(WSJ, 6/13/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 12, Shahid Jamil Qureshi, Pakistan’s minister of state for communications, resigned after police named him as a suspect in the death of Kafila Siddiqui, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin, at their shared home in Islamabad.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, A rocket-propelled grenade hit the home of the Hamas prime minister, while his fighters captured several positions from the rival Fatah movement and threatened to step up the offensive. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused his Hamas rivals of staging a coup and called for a cease-fire.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Pres. Putin led ceremonies to honor Russia Day. The holiday is one of several that have been shifted or renamed as Putin's Kremlin seeks to shape Russia's image. It was introduced by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, to commemorate Russia's 1990 declaration of sovereignty and was long known to many as Independence Day.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said South Africa is to become the first African country to join an OECD convention requiring adherents to crack down on bribery of foreign public officials.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jun 12, Sudan agreed to a "hybrid" UN-AU force of between 17,000 and 19,000 troops and an additional 3,700 police. Some diplomats feared conditions may be attached.
(Reuters, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 12, It was reported that the Hadzabe tribe of Tanzania, numbering fewer than 1,500, faced a hastening extinction following a government deal to lease 2,500 square miles of tribal hunting land to members of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Schools, roads and other projects were offered in compensation.
(SFC, 6/12/07, p.A20)
2007 Jun 13, A senior US diplomat said NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy. The Taliban claimed to have captured a NATO trooper. 20 militants were killed in the Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province. In nearby Zhari district six Taliban fighters were killed, including one commander. In southern Ghazni province 7 Taliban were killed and 4 others detained by police. A suicide attacker detonated his bomb near an Afghan army brigade commander in Gereshk district of Helmand province. In western Farah province two Afghans doing repair work on police vehicles were killed by Taliban militants. US-led coalition and Afghan troops killed a suspected militant and detained three others in a raid on a compound in eastern Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AFP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 13, Heavy snows hit the Andean border region of Argentina and Chile, forcing the closure of a key mountain highway connecting the two countries and idling thousands of trucks.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, British Home Secretary John Reid said the government is to run a pilot scheme giving convicted pedophiles drugs to suppress their libido, or so-called "chemical castration."
(AFP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Cambodian and foreign judges announced rules clearing the way for a UN-assisted genocide tribunal to begin investigating Khmer Rouge leaders in the deaths of 1.7 million people during their 1975-79 communist regime.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Canadian police arrested more than 60 suspected members of a criminal gang in a series of dawn raids in and around Toronto, in a crackdown on smuggling drugs and illegal firearms.
(Reuters, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, State media said China’s southern Guangdong province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people. State media also reported that Cheng Laifu, a teacher in northwestern China, has been sentenced to death for raping 18 primary school girls, the second such case in the same area. He was convicted of raping the 18 third- and fourth-grade students on 70 separate occasions between September 2001 and March 2005. The victims were 9 and 10. Xinhua News said that in July 2005, Li Guang, also a teacher in Changhe township, was sentenced to death for raping 23 fourth- and fifth-grade students.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Serge Maheshe, a Congolese journalist working for the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi, was shot dead in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Bukavu. Police the next day arrested 2 soldiers for the killing.
(AFP, 6/13/07)(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 13, Iran's parliament voted in favor of a bill that could lead to the death penalty for persons convicted of working in the production of pornographic movies.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, The UN Security Council agreed to an Iraqi request to extend the mandate of the US-led multinational force after the country's foreign minister said the troops were "vitally necessary." Saboteur bombers destroyed the two minarets of the Shiite Askariya Shrine in Samarra. In Baghdad the 30 members of the Sadrist bloc in parliament issued a statement saying they were boycotting parliament until the government takes "realistic" steps to rebuild the Askariya shrine. The mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams, Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son, Hassan Askariya, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors. In Basra four people were killed and six wounded in attacks on the Kawaz, Othman, al-Abayshi and Basra Grand mosques. Four Sunni mosques near Baghdad also were attacked or burned within several hours of the Samarra bombings. A suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in a town near the Iranian border, killing five Iraqi policemen and wounding 10. In Ramadi a suicide bomber killed four policemen at a checkpoint. Near Kirkuk militants blew up part of a bridge in the country's 4th attack on a span in as many days. A US soldier died in a non-combat related incident.
(AP, 6/13/07)(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 13, Ireland’s environmentalist Green Party, perennial outsiders in Irish politics, voted to join the next government and extend PM Bertie Ahern's 10-year run in power.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Elder statesman Shimon Peres (83) was elected Israel's ninth president, capping a campaign to extend his six-decade political career in a race marred by rape allegations against Moshe Katsav, the sitting president. Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister tossed out of office six years ago in a humiliating election defeat, won the leadership of the dovish Labor Party.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Lebanon lawmaker Walid Eido, a prominent anti-Syrian legislator killed by a car bomb, which also killed his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Mongolia a helicopter carrying firefighters and equipment crashed into a mountain killing 14 of 22 aboard. The crash site was not discovered until June 16.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 13, Fierce battles over key security positions spread to central Gaza, with Hamas fighters wresting control of the coastal strip's main north-south road, and putting themselves in position to cut off reinforcements to beleaguered Fatah forces. At least 20 Palestinians died across Gaza.
(AP, 6/13/07)(SFC, 6/14/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 13, A Philippine court acquitted Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, of five counts of tax evasion. Of more than 900 criminal and civil cases, mostly for violation of graft and corruption laws during her husband's 20-year rule, 40 criminal cases and fewer than 20 civil suits remained. The government said it has recovered at least $1.7 billion in cash and assets from the Marcoses and their associates over two decades, including Swiss bank deposits now worth at least $680 million.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In Puerto Rico Inter American University professor Leonardo Gamallo Sotolongo disappeared after going to pay Jorge Aguilera Enchautegui for work on his yard. Sotolongo’s body was found near a garbage dump two weeks later. On Feb 25, 2010, the FBI arrested Aguilera at a motel in Orlando, Florida, for carjacking and the slaying of Sotolongo.
(AP, 2/26/10)
2007 Jun 13, Global shipping officials warned that pirate attacks off Somalia's coast have spiraled to terrifying levels, with US and international navies failing to protect seafarers from being kidnapped.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In South Africa tens of thousands of public sector workers marched to government offices across the country, escalating a 12-day-old strike and bringing the largest cities to a standstill.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Sudan’s foreign ministry said Sudan has formally rejected an international conference on Darfur to be held in Paris this month because it was not consulted beforehand.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, In southeastern Turkey Kurdish guerrillas killed a Turkish army major and injured two other soldiers in a roadside bomb attack.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 13, Zimbabwe’s country's consumer watchdog said in its latest report that the cost of living for an average urban family rose by 66 percent last month.
(AP, 6/13/07)
2007 Jun 14, The San Antonio Spurs won their fourth NBA title in nine years as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 83-82 in Game 4.
(AP, 6/14/08)
2007 Jun 14, A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll said US President George W. Bush's approval rating has plunged to a new low of 29 percent.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Mississippi Klansman James Ford Seale (71) was convicted on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy in the 1964 deaths of Charles Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. Seale faced life in prison with sentencing on Aug 24.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, A US panel said an obesity treatment made by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis was unsafe and should not be marketed in the United States.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Channahon, Ill., 3 children and a woman were found shot to death in a sport utility vehicle parked just off a service road. On June 23 authorities charged Christopher Vaughn (32) with two murder counts per victim, saying he gunned down his family in their sport utility vehicle.
(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 14, Abel Diaz Lucas, also known as Jorge Guevara-Perez, was arrested in El Paso, Texas. The next day he was handed to Mexican authorities, who had been trying to find Diaz for five years. They accused him of running a central Mexico gang notorious for cutting off the fingers and ears of their victims and sending them to their families to demand ransom money.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, In California the Sonoma County Water Agency became the first water provider in the state since the early 1990s to institute mandatory rationing.
(SFC, 6/15/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 14, Colgate warned that a counterfeit toothpaste bearing its name has been found in four states and may contain diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze.
(WSJ, 6/15/07, p.B3)
2007 Jun 14, In Australia New Zealand PM Helen Clark met briefly with the Dalai Lama as they both toured Australia, where the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit has drawn fire from China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In Austria Kurt Waldheim (b.1918), former UN Secretary-General (1972-1982), died. He was elected Austrian president in 1986 despite an international scandal about his secretive World War II military service for the Nazis.
(AP, 6/14/07)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.97)
2007 Jun 14, Cambodian PM Hun Sen, visiting Japan, pledged to fight corruption to lure more investors from top donor Japan as he tries to wean his government away from foreign aid.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Canada said it had approved the idea of burying nuclear waste from its power plants deep in the ground at a single location, a proposal that green activists immediately condemned as too risky.
(Reuters, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Police in Henan province said they have rescued more than 200 people, including 29 children, who were working as "slaves" in brick kilns, in a shocking revelation of labor practices in booming China.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Four soldiers were convicted of killing a truck driver and five passengers in Chechnya, but three of the defendants have been missing since disappearing while on trial.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Colombia’s Congress passed a bill to give established gay couples full rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security. This would make it the first Latin American country to provide such rights.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, A UN spokesman said that Ethiopia has accepted a UN commission's ruling to turn over the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea. In a letter last week to the UN Security Council, the Ethiopian government gave its unconditional acceptance of the commission's decision announced five years ago.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Fiji's military ruler said he was expelling New Zealand's top diplomat, sending already strained relations between the South Pacific nation and one of its biggest neighbors spiraling even lower. Commodore Bainimarama said he had told New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Green to leave because the diplomat would not "stop interfering in Fiji's domestic affairs."
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, India's governing coalition chose Pratibha Patil (72), the governor of northwestern state of Rajashtan, as its presidential candidate, setting the stage for her to become the country's first female president. It was later reported that in the late 1970s she had favored compulsory sterilization for people with hereditary diseases. Reports also said that the Reserve Bank of India had shut down a women’s co-operative bank where she had given favorable loans to relatives.
(AP, 6/14/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.49)
2007 Jun 14, A handful of Sunni mosques were attacked or burned, but curfews and increased troop levels kept Iraq in relative calm a day after suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of a prized Shiite shrine. Attackers broke into the Hateen mosque in Iskandariyah and planted bombs inside. Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Talha Bin al-Zubair shrine about 13 miles outside Basra. They returned early the next day, planting bombs inside the structure that destroyed it. Insurgents linked to al-Qaida released a videotape showing the execution-style deaths of 14 Iraqi soldiers and policemen after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline for the Iraqi government to meet their demands. 3 US soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their vehicle during operations in Kirkuk province. A 4th soldier was killed by small arms fire in Diyala province.
(AP, 6/14/07)(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 14, Rifat Hadziahmetovic (39) of Montenegro and another "Pink Panther" member allegedly stole a diamond tiara worth 200 million yen (2.3 million dollars) and other gems from a jewelry store in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district. Hadziahmetovic was arrested in 2009 in Cyprus. In 2010 he was extradited to Japan from Spain for the robbery in Tokyo. The other suspect in the heist, Radovan Jelusic (39) was arrested in Rome in May in possession of a forged Croatian passport.
(AP, 8/14/10)
2007 Jun 14, More than $20 million in disputed North Korean funds was transferred from a blacklisted Macau bank, signaling a breakthrough in a dispute that has held up the North's pledge to shut down its nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In the Netherlands four African states (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe), after an 18-year ban, were allowed to put their ivory stocks on the market in a one-time sale as part of a hard-fought compromise reached with other Africans who tried to block the sale. The 171-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, approved the deal by consensus.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Nigerian separatist leader Mujahid Asari Dokubo, whose detention on treason charges since 2005 has sparked kidnappings in the oil-rich Niger Delta, was provisionally freed on health grounds. Militants freed 10 Indian hostages, including 2 women and 2 children.
(AFP, 6/14/07)(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 14, In eastern Pakistan thousands rallied against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, demanding the ouster of the military ruler for suspending the country's top judge. Gunmen opened fire on government troops in the southwestern city of Quetta, considered a Taliban hideout, shortly after the visit of a top US official, killing seven soldiers and two police.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared an emergency after the Hamas militant group effectively took control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas fighters overran one of the rival Fatah movement's most important security installations in the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said the victors dragged vanquished gunmen into the street and shot them to death execution-style. 14 fighters and civilians were killed and 80 wounded in the battle for the Preventive Security complex, bringing the day's death toll to 25 by mid-afternoon. Witnesses, Fatah officials and a doctor reported gangland-style killings of the defeated fighters. Palestinian security officials said an Israeli tank shell killed six people, including five children, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. The clashes in Gaza left an estimated 116 people dead and over 500 wounded.
(AP, 6/15/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/14/08)
2007 Jun 14, In Puerto Rico 5 men robbed a Loomis Fargo armored car. The next day Angel Fernandez Ramos, a Puerto Rican police officer assigned to a DEA anti-drugs unit, was arrested and charged with carrying out the $515,000 armored car heist with three relatives and another man.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 14, Romania's government defended its decision to return "Dracula's Castle" to members of the former royal family, denying allegations that the decision was illegal.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, In South Africa former UN chief Kofi Annan said he would head a new green group bankrolled by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to help reverse Africa's declining food production and double output.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, Sudan’s press reported that 4 people were killed and at least 10 wounded when police dispersed residents in the Kijbar region of north Sudan protesting a dam project which they say will destroy their community.
(AFP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 14, The Swiss National Bank raised interest rates by a quarter point.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.80)
2007 Jun 14, In insurgency-wracked southern Thailand a bomb exploded during a soccer match, wounding 14 police officers who were providing security.
(AP, 6/14/07)
2007 Jun 15, The US State Dept. feared foreign nations will retaliate after the Supreme Court said NYC can sue embassies over property taxes.
(WSJ, 6/16/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 15, The US Patent and Trademark office launched a one-year pilot program for a peer review of patent applications using an internet-based collaboration process.
(Econ, 9/8/07, TQ p.28)
2007 Jun 15, During his ethics trial, a tearful Mike Nifong announced he would resign as district attorney of Durham County, NC, after admitting that he'd made improper statements about three Duke University lacrosse players who were once charged with raping a stripper. The players were later declared innocent by state prosecutors.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, Retired "Price Is Right" host Bob Barker won his 19th Daytime Emmy.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, New international health regulations (IHRS) obliged governments to co-operate with Margaret Chan, director-general of WHO, and report potential pandemics at once.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.67)
2007 Jun 15, In Tulsa, Okla., a crane lifted out a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that had been buried in an underground concrete vault half a century earlier to celebrate 50 years of statehood.
(AP, 6/15/08)
2007 Jun 15, In southern Afghanistan 2 suicide attackers blew themselves up near NATO convoys, killing five Afghan children, four civilian men and a foreign soldier. A soldier of the US-led coalition died from a combat wound after a clash in the eastern province of Paktika.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Australian PM John Howard met the Dalai Lama triggering an angry reaction from China who accused the premier of turning a "deaf ear" to its concerns. A government report said child sex abuse is rampant among Aborigines in remote northern Australia, blaming widespread drunkenness and the breakdown of traditional societies as among the root causes.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Brazil Marc Van Roosmalen was convicted of trying to illegally auction off the names of monkey species, keeping rare monkeys at his house without authorization and selling a scaffolding donated to the National Institute for Amazon Research where he worked. He was sentenced to 15 years and nine months in a prison. Roosmalen has claimed in media reports that he was framed by powerful logging and ranching interests that operate in the Amazon. In August Roosmalen was ordered released pending an appeal.
(AP, 8/7/07)
2007 Jun 15, Britain announced the knighthood of author Salman Rushdie. This soon sparked rage among many Muslims.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.63)
2007 Jun 15, A London court jailed 7 Britons linked to a plot to blow up US financial institutions and stage a series of attacks in Britain, for a total of 136 years.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Activists in Bulgaria bought the freedom of the country’s last three dancing bears. They will get to rest their paws at a mountain sanctuary, in an apparent end to the centuries-old performance tradition in the Balkans. Bears had still performed, even though the practice was outlawed in 1993, when there were 20 to 30 such bears in the country.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Quebec, Canada, Premier Jean Charest said his province plans to ban firearms in educational institutions and on public transport as part of a clampdown in the wake of a college shooting last year.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, China’s state media said as many as 1,000 children may have been sold into slave labor in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, amid an expanding scandal about official neglect.
(Reuters, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Areva, a French nuclear energy group under the direction of Anne Lauvergeon, announced a cash offer for UraMin, a Canadian start-up firm with mining assets in Namibia, the Central African Republic, and South Africa. The acquisition cost $2.5 billion. In late 2011 Areva took a $2 million charge against the acquisition.
(Econ, 2/18/12, p.67)(http://tinyurl.com/822j7j9)
2007 Jun 15, In Guatemala villagers in Muyurco killed a woman and attacked two others after accusing them of kidnapping a 9-year-old girl who was later found dead.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 15, Human Rights Watch reported that tens of thousands of elementary school-age girls work in Guinea for no pay as household servants in conditions akin to slavery.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Iran was reported to have denied allegations of abuse saying it has forced Afghan laborers back home because the 1.5 million undocumented migrants are an enormous burden on its economy.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, The US launched a large offensive operation in several al-Qaida strongholds around Baghdad. The remains of 13 members of an Iraqi taekwondo team kidnapped last year were found near the main highway leading to Jordan. US attack helicopters killed four suspects and wounded three in operations south of Baghdad. An American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad and an Ohio National Guard pilot was killed when his F-16 fighter crashed shortly after takeoff from Balad Air Base in central Iraq.
(AP, 6/15/07)(AP, 6/16/07)(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 15, Lebanese troops raided an Islamic militant position inside a besieged Palestinian refugee camp, sparking a battle that killed at least four soldiers in renewed fighting.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Mexico the government of Oaxaca apologized for the first time for a police raid on protesters last year that led to the country's worst political unrest in years.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In Nigeria military and industry sources said gunmen have kidnapped several foreigners in the main oil-producing region of southern Nigeria.
(AFP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Fayyad to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was fired after his Hamas group violently took control of the Gaza Strip. On its first day of full rule in Gaza, the Islamic militant Hamas granted amnesty to Fatah leaders, signaling that it seeks conciliation with the defeated forces of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In the southern Philippines bombs went off on buses just a few minutes apart, killing eight people and wounding at least 14 others.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 15, The Gulf state of Qatar tightened its grip on J Sainsbury, Britain's third biggest supermarket chain, by raising its stake to 25%, sparking speculation it may launch a takeover.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Russia's security agency announced an espionage investigation based on statements by the suspect in Andrei Litvinenko's radiation poisoning, a move apparently targeting a Kremlin foe in Britain.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, On the island of Sardinia 2 trains collided head-on, killing a 27-year-old British woman and two Italians.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, Swiss officials inaugurated the Loetschberg Base Tunnel, the world's longest overland tunnel, a 34.6-kilometer-long (21-mile-long) rail link under the Alps meant to ease highway traffic jams.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In northeastern Taiwan 2 trains collided, killing 5 people and injuring 16 others.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 15, In southern Thailand a roadside bomb and shootings killed seven soldiers in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces this year.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 16, A North Carolina State Bar disciplinary committee said disgraced prosecutor Mike Nifong would be disbarred for his disastrous prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.
(SSFC, 6/17/07, p.A4)(AP, 6/16/08)
2007 Jun 16, In Oregon a head-on collision killed Marion County Deputy Kelly Fredinburg (33) and the passenger of driver Alfredo de Jesus-Ascencio, who was later indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide. In 2017 Jesus-Ascencio (29) was mistakenly released and then caught ten months later in Michoacan state, Mexico.
(http://tinyurl.com/y8q67mw2)(SFC, 12/26/17, p.A4)
2007 Jun 16, In Selmer, Tenn., a drag-racing car lost control during a parade and careened into a crowd, killing 6 people and injuring up to 15 others. In 2008 an indictment was unsealed charging Troy Critchley (38) with 6 counts of vehicular homicide and 22 counts of reckless aggravated assault.
(AP, 6/17/07)(SFC, 3/21/08, p.A4)
2007 Jun 16, US astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams set a record aboard the international space station for the longest single spaceflight by any woman, surpassing the record of 188 days set by astronaut Shannon Lucid at the Mir space station in 1996.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2007 Jun 16, In Afghanistan suicide bombers targeting foreign forces struck two Afghan cities, killing four civilians, and a US soldier at one of the attacks "accidentally" shot dead a bystander. Hundreds of Taliban fighters launched raids on police posts near the strategic town of Chora in Uruzgan province, forcing NATO, backed by fighter jets, to respond.
(AFP, 6/16/07)(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 16, Planes remained grounded at Brussels south Charleroi airport as a strike by security officers entered a second day.
(AFP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, China’s state media said that a total of 548 slave laborers have been freed in the past month from brick kilns and other illegal job sites in central China where they were starved, beaten and forced to work 14 hours or more per day.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Voting began in some overseas French territories in the final round of parliamentary elections expected to give conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy a big majority for his reform plans.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, It was reported that a coin shortage had gripped Calcutta, India. Bank officials investigated claims that coins were being melted down to make razor blades.
(SFC, 6/16/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 16, In Iraq bombers loaded into pickup trucks pulled up to the al-Ashrah al-Mubashra mosque in Basra's al-Hakimiya district. Minutes after they left, a huge explosion tore through the building, leveling it. A British soldier died after a road accident in southern Iraq.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, North Korea sent a letter to the UN nuclear watchdog, inviting inspectors to the country to discuss procedures for shutting down its main nuclear reactor. Top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill said technical problems in Russia are holding up the transfer of North Korean funds linked to a nuclear disarmament deal.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, The US strengthened its offer of support for President Mahmoud Abbas, telling him an international aid embargo against the Palestinians would end as soon as he forms a new government without Hamas.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Spanish police, working with US and British authorities, seized four tons of cocaine aboard a ship off the northwest coast.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 16, Thailand's military-installed government offered to negotiate with ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra over his recently frozen assets, as thousands of people protested in support of the former leader.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 16, Official media said Vietnam has confirmed its first human death from bird flu since 2005, as the latest flare-up of the virus ravaged poultry stocks. Tests confirmed that a 20-year-old from northern Ha Tay province died from the H5N1 virus on June 10.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 16, Representatives of both sides said Yemen's government and Shiite rebels have reached a cease-fire in a three-year fight that has claimed 4,000 lives this year.
(AP, 6/16/07)
2007 Jun 17, An enormous bomb ripped through a police academy bus at Kabul's busiest transportation hub, killing at least 35 people in the deadliest insurgent attack in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001. The dead included 22 police academy instructors and 13 bystanders. The Taliban claimed responsibility. In Paktika province US-led jets targeted a compound that also contained a mosque and a madrassa, or Islamic school, resulting in the death of seven boys, ages 10 to 16.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.51)
2007 Jun 17, CAR state radio said former rebels in the Central African Republic have signed a pact with the UN children's agency for the demobilization of hundreds of child soldiers.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, President Nicolas Sarkozy looked set to win a powerful majority as the French voted in runoff elections for parliament. Sarkozy won a comfortable majority but not the crushing victory predicted in polls.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 17, Iran said it had received indications from Russia's president that he would not follow through with an offer to allow the US to use a radar station in neighboring Azerbaijan for missile defense against Tehran.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Baghdad sprang to life after a four-day curfew to thwart violence following a provocative attack on a Shiite shrine. A car bomb killed two Kurdish security agents in Iraq's oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk. A roadside bomb went off next to an Iraqi police patrol in Nasiriyah, wounding two policemen. US attack helicopters killed four suspects and wounded three in operations south of Baghdad. A US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb while on a foot patrol in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/17/07)(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 17, In Italy Gianfranco Ferre (b.1944), known as the "architect of fashion," died in Milan. He was the top designer for Christian Dior from 1989-1996.
(SFC, 6/18/07, p.A2)(AP, 6/17/08)
2007 Jun 17, Authorities in Montenegro arrested Vlastimir Djordjevic, Serbia's assistant interior minister and chief of the Public Security Department (1997-2001), wanted for murder and persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Thousands of Pakistanis braved the rain in Faisalabad to cheer the country's top judge, keeping the pressure on President Pervez Musharraf to end a crisis over the chief justice's ouster.
(AFP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in an emergency Cabinet and outlawed the militia forces of the Islamic Hamas movement, deepening the violent rupture in Palestinian society.
(AP, 6/17/07)
2007 Jun 17, A Syrian court found 7 pro-Democracy advocates guilty of endangering the state and sentenced them 5 to 7 years in prison.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A7)
2007 Jun 18, US Supreme Court justices ruled 9-0 that car passengers have the same right as drivers to challenge the legality of police stops of vehicles in which they are riding.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, NYC officials detailed an experimental anti-poverty program whereby poor residents will be rewarded for good behavior, like $300 for doing well on school tests, $150 for holding a job and $200 for visiting the doctor.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In California a citizen’s commission, appointed by the governor, voted to raise the compensation of legislators and most constitutional officers by 2.75%.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.B1)
2007 Jun 18, Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel ended his six-year tenure as chief executive officer, handing over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A1)(AP, 6/18/08)
2007 Jun 18, In Florida Avion Lawson (14) and Nathan Walker (16) were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into a woman's apartment in a crime-ridden housing project. The 2 teenagers were later accused of gang raping the woman and forcing her son (12) to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.
(AP, 7/7/07)
2007 Jun 18, Torrential overnight rainfall flooded a handful of North Texas towns killing at least 4. People and their pets were stranded on the roofs of their homes awaiting rescue.
(AP, 6/18/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, In Charleston, SC, a fire swept through a furniture warehouse, collapsing the building's roof and claiming the lives of nine firefighters.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Utah an 11-year-old boy was dragged from a tent and killed by a black bear in American Fork Canyon.
(SFC, 6/19/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 18, In Berkeley, Ca., Kevin Morrissey (51), overwhelmed by financial worries, shot and killed his wife and 2 children in Tilden Park.
(SFC, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, Hank Medress (68), singer, died in Manhattan of lung cancer. His vocals with the doo wop group the Tokens helped propel their irrepressible single "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to the top of the charts in 1961. He also produced hits with other groups.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 18, Afghan insurgents said they had captured mountainous Myanishen district in the southern province of Kandahar.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Afghan officials said more than 100 people, including militants, civilians and police, have died in three days of fierce clashes between NATO forces and Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. Insurgents said they had captured mountainous Myanishen district in the southern province of Kandahar.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Australia a good Samaritan who tried to rescue a woman being dragged by her hair on a busy Melbourne street was shot dead and two other people were wounded when her attacker opened fire. On June 20 a Hells Angel biker was charged with the murder after surrendering to authorities.
(AFP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, Canada introduced a no-fly list to ground potential air passengers "who may pose an immediate threat to aviation security" and tried to play down concerns that the list could be abused.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Researchers reported that the first skull of the earliest known ancestor of the giant panda has been discovered in China and estimated to be at least 2 million years old. The animal, formally known as Ailuropoda microta, or "pygmy giant panda," would have been about 3 feet long, compared to the modern giant panda, which averages in excess of five feet.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Colombia 11 kidnapped former state lawmakers held hostage for five years were killed after a military attack on the jungle camp where they were being kept. The Web site of the left-wing news agency ANNCOL carried the statement on June 28.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 18, Vilma Espin Guillois (77), a guerrilla warrior and women's rights pioneer, died. She was the first lady of the Cuban revolution and wife of acting Pres. Raul Castro.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, The Gulf emirate of Dubai announced it had bought the Queen Elizabeth 2, one of the world's most majestic cruise liners, and planned to turn it into a luxury floating hotel.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In eastern Germany a bus veered off a highway and fell into a roadside ditch, killing 13 people and injuring about 30.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Authorities said British police, with aid from US investigators, have shattered a global Internet pedophile ring, rescuing 31 children and rounding up more than 700 suspects worldwide.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In France Airbus racked up a series of big orders at the opening of the Paris Air Show. Airbus announced that it had booked firm orders or letters of intent to order for 339 aircraft, a record figure, for a value of 45.7 billion dollars (34.1 billion euros) at catalogue prices.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Officials said 2 high schools in Mumbai have banned pupils from holding hands, kissing or touching on campus, warning that they will face disciplinary action if caught.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Iraqi and US forces began major military operations to the north and south of Baghdad. PM Nouri al-Maliki fired the Basra police chief over his force's failure to stop weekend attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq's second-largest city. In southern Baghdad, two parked car bombs exploded near a gas station, killing at least seven people lined up to buy fuel. Gunmen nearby ambushed an Interior Ministry convoy, killing an Iraqi colonel and his two guards. 4 civilians were killed and 13 injured when a parked car bomb ripped through a busy vegetable market in Fallujah. At least 20 people were killed by coalition airstrikes in Amarah. Iraqi officials said 36 people died in fighting that erupted as British and Iraqi forces conducted house-to-house searches in Nasiriyah. Sectarian fighting killed 111 people. One American soldier was killed by small arms fire in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/18/07)(AP, 6/19/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 18, Gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire at the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 15.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 18, Japan changed the name of the Pacific island of Iwo Jima, site of the famous World War II battle, to its original name of Iwo To after residents there were prodded into action by two recent Clint Eastwood movies.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 18, Fierce fighting erupted at a besieged Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese troops resumed bombardment of al-Qaida-inspired militants barricaded inside. Three Lebanese soldiers were killed.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Nigeria's main labor organizations said they had called a general strike for June 20, two days later than originally planned, threatening key oil exports.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, Pakistan demanded that Britain withdraw a knighthood awarded to author Salman Rushdie, as a government minister said the honor gave a justification for suicide attacks by Muslims.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 18, In Mogadishu, Somalia, a roadside bomb hidden in a pile of garbage exploded, killing two children and wounding 3 other people just minutes after security officials drove by.
(AP, 6/18/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Bush and visiting Israeli PM Ehud Olmert sided emphatically with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his standoff with the militant group Hamas.
(AP, 6/19/08)
2007 Jun 19, The US announced the transfer of six Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to their home countries, including one who, according to his lawyers, now may face abuse in Tunisia for nonviolent political activities. 4 men returned to Yemen and two to Tunisia.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Thomas Ravenel, treasurer of South Carolina, was indicted on federal cocaine distribution charges.
(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, After some six years as a Republican, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (65) announced that he has left the Republican Party and become unaffiliated in what many believe could be a step toward entering the 2008 race for president.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, International Lease Finance Corp., the world's largest airline leasing company, ordered 63 Boeing jets with a total list price of $8.8 billion.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Sterlite Industries, the flagship company of India’s Vedanta Resources, went public on the NYSE for over $2 billion.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.72)(www.stockhouse.com/shfn/editorial.asp?edtID=19859)
2007 Jun 19, In Austin, Texas, 3-4 people beat a man to death after the car he was riding in apparently struck and injured a child.
(AP, 6/20/07)(SFC, 6/22/07, p.A5)
2007 Jun 19, James Cockayne (21) of New Hope, Pa., was beaten and stabbed to death in the Virgin Islands. 3 men, Anselmo Boston, Kamal Thomas and Jahleel Ward, were arrested after the parents of Cockayne appeared on US news programs and accused Virgin Islands detectives of botching an investigation into their son's death. On Oct 10, 2008, Ward was found guilty of first-degree murder and other charges. Anselmo Boston and Kamal Thomas were found guilty on two counts each of third-degree assault, among other charges.
(AP, 10/6/08)(AP, 10/10/08)
2007 Jun 19, Fierce clashes between Taliban militants and NATO and Afghan forces left more than 100 people dead over the last three days in Uruzgan province. Police clashed with insurgents and retook control of Miya Nishin district in Kandahar. Hours later provincial police chief forces lost Ghorak district in the same province to the militants. A mosque attack occurred in Ismail Kheil in Khost province. Two unidentified men entered the building and fatally shot three people while wounding four others.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, The Algerian government approved a plan to set up an academy of the Amazigh language, spoken by the Berber minority, many of whom live in Kabylie in the mountainous north of the country.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, "The Lord of the Rings" musical, the most expensive production in West End history, opened at London's Theatre Royal to mixed reviews, with some critics praising it as brilliant and others calling it corny and "a thumping great flop."
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, China’s state media reported that the worst drought in 30 years in northeast China's Liaoning province has left more than 1.2 million people short of drinking water.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Dubai a Canadian UN official, who advised the Afghan government on eradicating opium poppy crops, was sentenced to four years in prison for smuggling and drug possession. Bert Tatham (35) of Vancouver, British Columbia, was arrested April 23 during a one-hour stopover at the Dubai International Airport, after being caught with a half a gram of hashish, and two poppy bulbs.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, The European Parliament decided that if it isn't distilled from grains or potatoes, it really isn't vodka. It also overwhelmingly approved a ban on trade in products containing cat or dog fur.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Georgia border agents blocked a car trying to smuggle radioactive plutonium and beryllium from Azerbaijan.
(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, Ghanaians reacted with a blend of excitement and foreboding to the news of a major oil find off the coast of their west African nation, some viewing it as a boon and others fearing it could turn out to be a curse.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Indian police said they have discovered a stash of hundreds of human skulls and thigh bones and arrested a gang for allegedly smuggling them to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for use in Buddhist monasteries.
(Reuters, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A truck bomb struck the Shiite Khillani mosque in central Baghdad, killing at least 87 people and wounding more than 200. About 10,000 US soldiers used heavily armored Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles to battle their way into an al-Qaida sanctuary in Baqouba. The troops, under cover of attack helicopters, killed at least 22 insurgents in the offensive. A Task Force Lightning soldier was killed by an explosion near his vehicle. In all 142 people were killed or found dead in sectarian violence.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak took over as defense minister. Hundreds of terrified Gazans fleeing Hamas rule were trapped at a main crossing with Israel, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank. Israeli security officials said they have arrested 12 members of a PLO cell that planned to kidnap American citizens.
(AP, 6/19/07)(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, A Lebanese soldier was killed in clashes with al-Qaida-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Antonio Aguilar (88), Mexican mariachi singer and actor, died. He recorded more than 150 albums and began his acting career during Mexico's "Golden Era" of cinema. He appeared in 167 films, including "The Undefeated" starring John Wayne.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Nigeria a top militant leader freed on bail said that armed groups in the restive south will halt attacks on oil installations to give the new government a chance to deal with the region's problems.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, Students at a Northern Ireland high school were receiving counseling after three 15-year-old classmates hanged themselves over the past month.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A US envoy said North Korea has finally received millions of dollars at the heart of a dispute that stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations, and must quickly shut down its only reactor.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, In Pakistan an explosion killed at least 26 Taliban allies in the North Waziristan tribal region. Security officials said it appeared to be a missile attack from Afghanistan targeting a training camp for foreign militants. A Pakistani military spokesman said the explosion was from a bomb being made by the militants.
(SFC, 6/20/07, p.A3)(WSJ, 6/20/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, In Romania hundreds of retirees took to the streets in Bucharest and about 20 other towns to demand that pensions be raised to at least 45% of the average national salary and other benefits. Romania numbered 6 million retirees out of a population of 22 million.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, A new survey reported that Moscow is the world's most expensive city for the second year in a row, thanks to an appreciating ruble and rising housing costs.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, A Russian court sentenced four men to prison terms of between seven and 14 years for the racially motivated killing of a Congolese student. The slaying of Roland Epassak in St. Petersburg two years ago prompted outrage and protests among Russian and foreign exchange students and other young people.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Sri Lanka government troops killed up to 44 Tamil rebels in clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka while destroying three small camps in the insurgents' last eastern stronghold.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 19, President Jakaya Kikwete said Tanzania will shut camps housing 150,000 refugees from Burundi by the end of this year as the war in the neighbouring central African country is over.
(AFP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, Police charged ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife with concealing assets and ordered the exiled leader to return to Thailand.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 19, It was reported that political troubles in the Ukraine were being aggravated by soaring bread prices as the worst drought in a century hit the region.
(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 19, The Vatican issued a set of "Ten Commandments" for drivers, telling motorists not to kill, not to drink and drive, and to help fellow travelers in case of accidents.
(AP, 6/19/07)
2007 Jun 20, For the second time, President Bush vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill as he urged scientists toward what he termed "ethically responsible" research.
(AP, 6/20/08)
2007 Jun 20, Sammy Sosa, playing for the Texas Rangers after a year out of baseball, hit his 600th home run, making him the fifth player to reach the milestone.
(AP, 6/20/08)
2007 Jun 20, Isaac Kamali, who appears on Rwanda's most wanted list submitted to Interpol, was detained at Philadelphia airport.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 20, In eastern Afghanistan gunmen opened fire on people praying in a mosque, killing three and wounding four others. A series of roadside bombings in Afghanistan killed eight people, including three Canadian NATO soldiers. One bomb blew up a police vehicle in the eastern province of Khost, killing Qalandar district police chief Ali Mohammad and one of his men. An ambush on a convoy belonging to UN's Office for Project Services on the main Kabul-Kandahar highway, killed two Afghan guards. Another bomb exploded on a road in Ghazni province and killed a man who was cycling home after buying groceries. Fighting in Paktika province between US-led troops and suspected Taliban left 8 militants and a policeman dead.
(AP, 6/20/07)(AFP, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Australia announced that it will spend 9.3 billion US dollars on five Spanish-designed warships to boost its capacity to face military threats in the region.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Chechnya a gunbattle broke out between traffic police and a Defense Ministry unit in Grozny, leaving at least five people dead and six wounded.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, China announced a nationwide crackdown on enslavement and child labor. China's regulatory standards chief pledged to update and boost enforcement of food safety rules as the country faces intense international pressure for exporting unsafe products from toothpaste to pet food ingredients. State media said floods and landslides triggered by heavy rain have killed 36 more people and left 13 missing in southwest and central China. A knife-wielding man slashed four students, wounding one seriously at a high school in Fuzhou, capital of southeastern Fujian province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Reuters, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Otto Roberto Herrera Garcia, a man accused of turning Guatemala into a corridor for US-bound cocaine, was arrested in Bogota, two years after escaping from a Mexican prison. He offered agents $700,000 each in bribes to let him go when he was seized.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 20, A Dutch government-funded agency said China has overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, because of surging energy use amid an economic boom. However consumption and emission levels per head remained a mere fraction of America’s.
(AP, 6/20/07)(Econ, 6/13/09, p.45)
2007 Jun 20, Starbucks signed a deal to credit Ethiopia's unique bean varieties on its coffee labels, ending a long-brewing trademark dispute.
(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Athens, Greece, 7 police officers were charged with torture and other offenses in the alleged beating of two Albanian immigrants that was recorded on a cell phone camera and posted on the Internet.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Gunmen blew up two Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, causing heavy damage but no casualties, in an apparent retaliatory attack a day after a suicide truck bombing devastated a revered Shiite mosque in the heart of the capital. The US military said at least 30 al-Qaida fighters were killed and several bombs and weapons caches destroyed as soldiers fought their way through the streets of Baqouba. 4 US soldiers were killed and one was wounded when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in a western neighborhood in Baghdad. Southwest of Baghdad. Two US soldiers were killed and 4 were wounded when explosions struck near their vehicle. Two Marines also were killed while conducting combat operations in Anbar province.
(AP, 6/20/07)(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nazek al-Malaika (85), a renowned Iraqi poet, died. She was famous as the first to write Arabic poetry in free verse rather than classical rhyme.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Israeli tanks entered southern Gaza, and four people, including at least two militants, were killed in an exchange of fire. Israel fired missiles at two rocket launchers in northern Gaza in the first attack since Hamas militants took control. Israel also let in a few seriously ill Palestinians who had been holed up for days at a fetid border crossing. In the West Bank, two Palestinian militants were killed in a shootout with Israeli troops during an arrest raid near Jenin.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Japanese lawmakers approved a two-year extension of the country's air force transport mission in Iraq, despite criticism of Tokyo's involvement in the unpopular war.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Nigerian stocks dipped 1.74% as a general strike called by the country's two main labor movements over a 15-percent hike in petrol prices took its toll. Nigerian health officials said an outbreak of measles in a village in the northern state of Borno had killed 20 children and caused a further 100 children to be hospitalized.
(AFP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Sierra Leone 3 former military leaders were found guilty of war crimes by a UN-backed court, the first verdicts from the country's civil war and the first convictions in an international court for using child soldiers. Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were indicted in 2003 as the alleged leaders of a junta, called the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, which toppled the government in 1997 and then teamed up with rebels to control the country until 1998.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, In Switzerland 2 people accused of running al-Qaida-linked Web sites that showed the slaying of hostages and gave details of how to make bombs and carry out attacks went on trial. Moez Garsallaoui (39), a Tunisian based in Switzerland, and Malika El Aroud 948), the Belgian-born widow of an al-Qaida suicide bomber, appeared in court on charges that included providing support for terrorists.
(AP, 6/20/07)
2007 Jun 20, Thailand’s legislature approved an anti-rape law that widens the definition of the crime and makes it illegal for a husband to have sex with his wife without her consent.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 20, Adm. William Fallon, a top US military commander, met with Turkmenistan's new President Berdymukhamedov for talks on regional security, counterterrorism operations and drug trafficking.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Britain and the United States signed a treaty to cut red tape on arms deals and improve the compatibility of military equipment.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief US nuclear envoy, made a rare trip to North Korea in a surprise bid to accelerate international efforts to press the communist government to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
(AP, 6/21/08)
2007 Jun 21, Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet heard a barrage of criticism during his historic visit to Washington, with angry US lawmakers saying ties between the former enemies will stagnate until Vietnam's dismal human rights record improves.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In SF Mayor Newsome described a plan to reduce the number of trash cans in SF as part of a larger pledge to reduce litter by 50% over the next 5 years. Some 305 of 5,000 cans have been removed since January due to alleged inappropriate use by neighbors.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.B12)
2007 Jun 21, In Kentucky a cable broke on the superman Tower of Power ride at the Six Flags Kentucky Freedom park in Louisville and sliced off the feet of a 13-year-old girl.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.B2)
2007 Jun 21, Bob Evans (89), sausage maven, died in Ohio. In 2007 his Bob Evans Farms restaurant chain, begun in 1953, numbered 579 outlets in 18 states.
(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/21/08)
2007 Jun 21, In eastern Afghanistan a land mine explosion killed a NATO soldier and wounded four more. An official said the UN World Food Program has halted aid deliveries in Afghanistan's most volatile provinces after 85 of its trucks were attacked, set ablaze or looted in the last year by Taliban insurgents and thieves.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Australia's PM John Howard announced plans for the federal government to take control of 60 aboriginal communities in the Northern Territories. Plans also included a ban on pornography and alcohol for Aborigines in the northern areas and tightened control over their welfare benefits to fight child sex abuse among them.
(AP, 6/21/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.50)
2007 Jun 21, In London, England, Damien Hirst’s “Lullaby spring" sold for $19.1 million, the highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist. The work consisted of a stainless steel cabinet containing 6,136 hand-crafted and painted pills. It was purchased by Sheikha al-Mayassa al-Thani, the daughter of the emir of Qatar.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.E4)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.99)
2007 Jun 21, A hitman sent to Britain to kill Boris Berezovsky (61) was arrested by British security services as he planned the murder. He was turned over to immigration services and soon deported.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2096367.ece)
2007 Jun 21, At Stonehenge, England, Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers welcomed the sun as it rose above the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, China signed an agreement to cancel Iraqi debt at a ceremony after a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani. State media reported no more brightly dyed hair, flashy jewelry or smoking in public for China's police while they're in uniform.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, China's special envoy on Darfur said his country will seriously consider sending troops for a peacekeeping mission in the war-torn Sudanese region and insisted Beijing is doing its best to help solve the conflict.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Leaders of the EU's 27 nations gathered to discuss a new EU treaty.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, The European Court of Human Rights found the Russian authorities responsible for the killings of four members of a Chechen family in 2003 and ordered Moscow to pay a relative $114,000.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Talks in Germany between the US, EU, India and Brazil to save the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round of free trade negotiations collapsed.
(Reuters, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, A suicide truck bomber struck the Sulaiman Bek city hall in a predominantly Sunni area in northern Iraq, killing at least 17 people, including the mayor, and wounded 66 in a predominantly Sunni area of northern Iraq. 5 US troops were killed in a single roadside bombing that also killed four Iraqis in Baghdad. A rocket-propelled grenade struck a vehicle in northern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding three others. US soldiers detained 18 suspected militants in raids targeting roadside bomb networks in the Baghdad area.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 21, Mario Villanueva, the former Mexican governor of Quintana Roo, was freed after six years behind bars and immediately re-arrested on a US extradition request in which he is accused of helping smuggle 200 tons of cocaine into the United States.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Nigeria police used tear gas on strikers manning a barricade in Lagos as the second day of a general strike brought parts of Africa's largest oil producer to a standstill. Two Nigerian employees of Italian oil company Agip were killed when troops stormed an oil facility to free hostages in the Niger delta. A total of 20 people were killed in the operation, including 15 militants.
(AFP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Pakistan thousands rallied in support of the suspended chief justice, accusing President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of attacking the judiciary and burning a US flag to protest Washington's backing for the general's continued rule. Pakistani traders announced a reward of 10 million rupees (165,000 dollars) for anyone who beheads Salman Rushdie following Britain's decision to award the novelist a knighthood. Islamic scholars bestowed a top honor on Osama bin Laden in response to the British accolade.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Peru's Congress voted overwhelmingly to lower the age to 14 for participating in consensual sex, a move some activists said could expose children to sexual abuse.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 21, Portugal introduced a new law that allows abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy, but imposes a three-day reflection period for women seeking the procedure and grants doctors the right to opt out on moral grounds.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, In Russia a fire swept through a nursing home in Western Siberia's Omsk region and killed at least 10 people.
(AP, 6/21/07)
2007 Jun 21, Thai prosecutors filed corruption charges against ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra in the Supreme Court, in the first formal charges lodged against the exiled former premier. Separatist militants in southern Thailand shot a Muslim man and then partially severed his head, while the nation's junta leader was visiting the region. A 54-year-old Buddhist was gunned down in a drive-by shooting.
(AP, 6/21/07)(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, The US House of Representatives voted to prohibit any aid to Saudi Arabia as lawmakers accused the close ally of religious intolerance and bankrolling terrorist organizations.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Wyoming Republican legislator John Barrasso was named as the country’s newest US senator to replace the late Craig Thomas.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 22, Blackstone Group share rose 13.1% in their stock market premier. This was the 6th richest IPO in US history. Schwarzman and Peter Peterson sold shares worth a combined $2.6 billion. In 2010 David Carey and John Morris authored “King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Stephen Schwarzman and Blackstone."
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.C1)(Econ, 10/16/10, p.102)
2007 Jun 22, The space shuttle Atlantis landed in California to avoid rain in Florida, ending a two-week, five-million-mile mission for its crew of seven. While docked at the International Space Station, the astronauts successfully installed a new truss segment, expanding the station's laboratory with a new set of power-generating solar arrays. Atlantis ended a two-week mission bringing home crew member Sunita "Suni" Williams, who'd set an endurance record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 195 days.
(AP, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/22/08)
2007 Jun 22, Guy Vander Jagt (75), a 13-term Republican congressman from Michigan, died in Washington.
(AP, 6/22/08)
2007 Jun 22, In southern Afghanistan Taliban militants attacked police posts, triggering NATO airstrikes overnight which killed 20 suspected militants, but also 25 civilians, including 9 women, 3 babies and the mullah at the local mosque 9 miles northeast of Gereshk town. NATO and US-led coalition forces killed 60 insurgents near the border with Pakistan, in what was described as the largest insurgent formation crossing the region in six months. Pakistan's army said a rocket fired during the battle hit a house on its territory, killing nine civilians. In Helmand province an attack on US-led coalition troops left one soldier dead and two others wounded.
(AP, 6/22/07)(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Algerian soldiers shot and killed six armed Islamists near Algiers, while two guards died in homemade bomb blasts at a gas pipeline southeast of the capital.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 22, British energy group BP, facing pressure from the Kremlin, said that it had agreed to sell its stakes in a Siberian gas field and company to Russian gas giant Gazprom for up to 900 million dollars (669 million euros).
(AP, 6/22/07)(WSJ, 6/22/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 22, Chinese investigators said government labor monitors and police officers were actively involved in the Chinese brickyard slavery scandal. A provincial governor apologized as the government stepped up efforts to try to show it was responding to a growing slave labor scandal.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Colombia a wave of bombings in Bogota wounded 23 people. Marines defused another two bombs the next day. Authorities blamed the bombings on rebels seeking revenge for the killing of a regional guerrilla commander.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Southeastern Europe baked under soaring temperatures, with nearly 30 deaths across the region blamed on the year's first major heat wave.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In Greece immigrant groups opened the first formal Islamic prayer site to operate in Athens since rule by the Ottoman Empire ended more than 170 years ago.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In India 12 members of a wedding party were among 31 feared drowned overnight in two separate boat accidents in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Heavy rains and flooding killed at least 45 people in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and left nearly 100 children stranded on the roof of their school.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Iran interior minister was quoted saying Iran has produced more than 220 pounds of enriched uranium.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, A suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest struck a police patrol in Fallujah, killing two officers. US helicopters killed 17 al-Qaida fighters as they tried to get by a checkpoint in Baqouba.
(AP, 6/22/07)(WSJ, 6/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 22, In Kenya at least 20 people were killed overnight in and around Nairobi, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gunbattles.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Rebels attacked an army base in Niger, killing 13 and wounding 30 soldiers, and taking at least 47 prisoners.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 22, Nigeria's crippling general strike entered a third day with labor leaders and government officials deadlocked after all-night talks ended in failure.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Pakistani police arrested Muhammad Shahid Jamil Qureshi, a former government minister, after a court cancelled his bail in connection with the death of a Canadian woman.
(Reuters, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the government was dropping charges against veteran coup-plotter Gregorio Honasan after he was elected to the Senate last month.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, South African unions turned down a revised offer of a 7.5% pay rise, ensuring that the country's biggest strike since the end of apartheid will go into a fourth week.
(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, In southern Thailand 10 people, including five soldiers, were hurt in two separate bombings.
(AFP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 22, Zimbabwe's currency plunged to new depths as the US ambassador to Harare predicted galloping inflation will force Pres. Mugabe from office before the end of the year.
(AP, 6/22/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Canton, Ohio, authorities found the body of Jessie Davis (26), who had disappeared a week earlier. Davis was pregnant and due to deliver on July 3. Police arrested Bobby Cutts Jr. (30), Davis’ boyfriend and the father of Davis’ two-year-old son. Myisha Ferrel, a former classmate Bobby Cutts, was arrested the next day in connection with the murder. In 2008 Cutts was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to 57 years to life in prison.
(SSFC, 6/24/07, p.A6)(SFC, 6/25/07, p.A5)(SFC, 2/16/08, p.A4)(AP, 6/23/08)
2007 Jun 23, Donna Jou (19), a student a San Diego State Univ., was last scene on the back of a motorcycle driven by John Steven Burgess (35), a convicted sex offender. In August Burgess pleaded guilty to a drug charge in Florida and waived extradition to California.
(SFC, 8/16/07, p.B9)
2007 Jun 23, A Belgian teenager was arrested for hacking and temporarily shutting down the federal police website, leaving a mocking on-line note which helped identify him.
(AFP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 23, Britain’s PM Tony Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI, with the Vatican stop on his farewell tour fueling rumors that he plans to convert to Catholicism.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Authorities said an outbreak of distemper has been killing seal pups off the coast of Denmark, warning that thousands of seals could die if the disease spreads to other northern European countries.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, European Union leaders agreed on a "precise mandate," no longer called a constitution, that will guide and govern the expanded EU. They agreed on the key points of a treaty meant to strengthen the bloc's foreign policy role and eliminate unwieldy bureaucracy.
(AP, 6/23/07)(WSJ, 6/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 23, In India the mutilated bodies of Manoj and Babli Banwala were fished out of Barwala Link Canal in Hisar district by Kheri Chowki police, their hands and feet tied. Manoj and Babli Banwala (19), childhood sweethearts in northern Haryana state, were murdered some days earlier by male relatives of Babli, who was forced to drink pesticide by her brother. Manoj was garroted by the bride’s uncle. Their alleged crime was to have married within the same Hindu clan.
(Econ, 4/17/10, p.48)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaithal_honour_killing_case)
2007 Jun 23, It was estimated that 2.2 million of Iraq’s 27 million people have fled the country for Jordan, Syria and elsewhere. Iraqi and US troops captured two senior al-Qaida militants in Diyala province. US military said that at least 55 al-Qaida operatives have been killed and 23 detained since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. A predawn operation by US forces working with Iraqi informants in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City netted 3 other militants suspected of ties to Iran. A car bomb in the southern city of Hillah killed at least two people and wounded 18 others. A total of 11 US soldiers were killed, including seven killed by roadside bombs, four by a single blast near Baghdad. An Iraqi man was killed by US troops near Kirkuk. On July 19 two American soldiers were charged with his murder.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.54)(AP, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/24/07)(SFC, 7/20/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun 23, Israeli troops arrested the founder of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank. Saleh Aruri, was taken from his West Bank home before dawn. Aruri had served 15 years in an Israeli prison and was released in March.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Italian energy company Eni SpA and Russia's state-controlled OAO Gazprom said they signed a memorandum of understanding on the possibility of supplying Russian gas to European Union countries through a pipeline under the Black Sea.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Nigeria labor unions called off a strike aimed at overturning a government fuel-price hike, ending a four-day work stoppage that shut down most major economic activity in Africa's biggest oil producer. Labor officials said they accepted a government proposal to hold off on raising fuel prices for a year, while accepting an earlier offer to halve the price increase that had sparked the strike. Kidnappers released four foreign oil workers seized weeks ago.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Pakistan radical Islamic students kidnapped nine people, including 6 Chinese women, from an alleged brothel in Islamabad. The nine were released after about 17 hours. Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables killed at least 228 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.
(Reuters, 6/23/07)(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Romania a bear attacked a group of US tourists on a remote trail in the Carpathian Mountains, killing a woman and injuring two other people.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, In Saudi Arabia a judge postponed the trial of 3 members of the religious police for their alleged involvement in the death of a man arrested after being seen with a woman who was not his relative.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 23, Sudan’s oil production stood at 480,000 barrels per day with proven reserves at 1.6 billion barrels.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 23, In Turkey a separatist Kurdish rebel and a civilian were killed in a botched suicide attack in the eastern province of Tunceli. Paramilitary troops opened fire on the truck as it was approaching a military outpost at which point the vehicle exploded. Fighting elsewhere left five rebels and a government militia member dead.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 23, A Yemeni guard opened fire on a group of foreign oil workers shortly after they landed at a company airstrip, killing one and wounding five, including an American. The provincial governor said the guard's was mentally ill.
(AP, 6/23/07)
2007 Jun 24, Charles W. Lindberg (86), one of the U.S. Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, died in Edina, Minn.
(AP, 6/24/08)
2007 Jun 24, In Afghanistan a roadside bomb hit a convoy of British troops, wounding one soldier and prompting them to open fire in a civilian area in insurgency-plagued Helmand province, killing one man.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Argentines in Buenos Aires voted for a new mayor. Pre-election polls suggested most would swing right and elect Mauricio Macri (48), the president of Argentina's most popular soccer team.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Treasury chief Gordon Brown, three days before taking over from Tony Blair as premier, replaced Blair as leader of Britain's Labor Party and vowed that the country's foreign policy will recognize that defeating terrorism "involves more than military force."
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, The Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," and two others to death for their roles in the bloody offensive said to have killed some 180,000 people during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Two others sentenced to hang for anti-Kurdish atrocities were former defense minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai and Hussein Rashid Mohammed, a former deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces. Two Sunni blocs in the Iraqi parliament, holding 55 seats, began a boycott of the 275-seat house, demanding reinstatement of the Sunni speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. Journalist Zeena Shakir Mahmoud (35) was shot to death on her way home from work in Mosul, the second female journalist to be killed there this month.
(AP, 6/24/07)(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 24, The Israeli Cabinet approved the release of frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a step to bolster the moderate leader in his standoff against the Islamic militant group Hamas.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, In Indian Kashmir 3 suspected Muslim rebels were shot dead trying to cross from the Pakistan side of the divided state. The region's main guerrilla group vowed to continue attacks and shun peace talks. A landmine attack by rebels on an Indian police convoy wounded 10 on the outskirts of Srinagar.
(AFP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 24, Lebanese troops raided an apartment complex suspected of housing Islamic militants in the northern port city of Tripoli, sparking a gunbattle that left 10 people dead, including a soldier and 6 gunmen. A bombing killed 6 members of Spanish UN peacekeepers, including 3 Colombians, and seriously wounded two others.
(AP, 6/24/07)(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 24, A news report said South Korea has extracted gas hydrate, an alternative fuel source Seoul hopes might help reduce its heavy dependence on oil imports, in its eastern territorial waters.
(AP, 6/24/07)
2007 Jun 25, First Lady Laura Bush arrived in Senegal to start a four-nation Africa tour that is expected to focus on how the US can help fight AIDS on a continent where many countries struggle to even provide basic health care.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, Robert Zoellick won unanimous approval of the World Bank's board to become the institution's next president.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2007 Jun 25, Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner (46), a former US Army Reserve officer, was sentenced to nearly two years in prison for helping steer millions of dollars in Iraq-reconstruction contracts in exchange for jewelry, computers, cigars and sexual favors.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, A Washington DC judge rejected a lawsuit by Roy Pearson, who sought $54 million for a pair of pants lost by the Custom Cleaners dry cleaning firm in 2005. Pearson’s claim had been reduced from $67 million.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 25, In Utah police recaptured Curtis Allgier (27) after he wrested a gun from a corrections officer Stephen Anderson, killed him and fled in a stolen SUV.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 25, In California a forest fire raged out of control for a 2nd day near Lake Tahoe. The 7-day Angora fire destroyed 254 homes burning 3,100 acres with damages estimated at over $150 million.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/08, p.A1)
2007 Jun 25, Chris Benoit (40), a professional wrestling superstar, was found dead alongside the bodies of his wife and retarded son (7) in Fayetteville, Georgia. Police treated the case as a possible murder-suicide. Anabolic steroids thought to be a contributing factor. The Canadian-born wrestler won the world heavyweight championship in 2004. Doctors later reported that Chris Benoit had injected steroids not long before he died.
(Reuters, 6/26/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A4)(Reuters, 7/17/07)
2007 Jun 25, Police and soldiers began deploying to outback Australia as part of a radical plan to end child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities which has been criticized as a return to the nation's paternalistic past.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, The final British troops withdrew from the Northern Ireland borderland long known as "bandit country," ending a 37-year mission to keep watch over the Irish Republican Army's most dangerous power base.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, A charter plane carrying 22 people between two popular Cambodian tourist destinations crashed in a mountainous region in the south of the country. All aboard were killed.
(AP, 6/25/07)(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Cairo a state security court sentenced Mohammed Sayed Saber (35), an Egyptian nuclear engineer, to life in prison after convicting him of spying for Israel. He had been charged with harming the country's national security by giving stolen documents to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in exchange for $17,000.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Frontex, the EU's external border agency, kicked off a new series of patrols in the Mediterranean coastal area, known as operation Nautilus, in order to halt the influx of illegal immigrants, crossing over from North Africa to Europe. Many migrants aimed to reach Malta as a stepping stone to Italy and Europe.
(www.eubusiness.com/Malta/1181678401.8/)(Econ, 6/23/07, p.59)
2007 Jun 25, In India police arrested Dr. K. Murugesan and his physician wife, the parents of Dhileepan Raj, who supervised their son while he allegedly performed the Caesarean section.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, A suicide bomber apparently targeting a meeting of US-allied Sunni sheiks penetrated layers of security and blew himself up in a hotel lobby, killing 13 people including 4 sheiks. The poet Rahim al-Maliki, who wrote about his dreams of Iraqi unity in a place where such appeals are drowned out by daily bombings, was among those killed as a wave of suicide and other bombings left at least 54 people dead across Iraq. A US soldier shot to death in south Baghdad.
(AP, 6/26/07)(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A17)(AP, 6/25/08)
2007 Jun 25, Israel's PM Ehud Olmert promised to free 250 Palestinian prisoners and to improve life in the West Bank in an attempt to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas' takeover in Gaza. Olmert made the pledges at a summit in this Egyptian Red Sea resort with Abbas and the leaders of Egypt and Jordan. Hamas militants posted an audio message from an Israeli soldier captured a year ago at an army base near the Gaza Strip, the first sign of life from the young serviceman since he was seized. In a new video kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston appeared with what he says are explosives strapped to his body and warned that his captors intend to set them off if rescuers attempt to free him by force.
(AP, 6/25/07)(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaida's deputy leader, called on Muslims around the world to back Hamas with weapons, money and attacks on US and Israeli interests in a Web audiotape, urging the Palestinian militant group to unite with al-Qaida's "holy warriors" after its takeover of Gaza.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Mexico temporarily removed all 284 of its top federal police officers from their jobs and is forcing them to undergo psychological reviews to prove they will not be corrupted in the fight against drug trafficking.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In the Netherlands former Liberian president Charles Taylor boycotted the resumption of his war crimes trial.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In Nigeria 2 youth activists were killed in a clash between two rival groups in southern Nigerian Rivers State.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, In the Philippines Vicente Sumalpong, a reporter at a government-run radio station, was fatally shot on southern Tawi Tawi island, the latest victim in a string of killings of journalists.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 25, Puerto Rico's Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila acknowledged that he is the target of a US grand jury investigation into campaign finances, a revelation further jeopardizing his bid for re-election.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 25, A Swedish court ruled that convicted sex offenders are free to read pornography in their cells. It said the country's prison system had no right to deny an imprisoned rapist access to his porn magazines.
(www.thelocal.se/7699/20070625/)
2007 Jun 25, The Thai government said it will freeze an additional $147 million in assets believed to be controlled by ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A CD of the Russian National Orchestra performing Dead Symphony No. 6: An Orchestral Tribute to the Grateful Dead, was released in the US. The work was directed by composer Lee Johnson.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.E3)
2007 Jun 26, Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball," got into a verbal fracas with Elizabeth Edwards, who had called into the program to ask Coulter to stop making personal attacks on her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
(AP, 6/26/08)
2007 Jun 26, It was reported that ConocoPhillips planned to walk away from its Venezuelan investments, rather than agree to a government takeover of assets, and preserve its right to seek international arbitration. Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips refused to sign deals to keep pumping heavy oil under tougher terms in Venezuela's Orinoco River basin, signaling their departure from one of the world's largest oil deposits. 7 of the 11 companies agreed to new terms with Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA).
(WSJ, 6/26/07, p.A7)(AP, 6/26/07)(WSJ, 6/27/07, p.A1)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.46)
2007 Jun 26, Patrick Knight was executed in Huntsville, Texas, for the 1991 murder of a couple from the Amarillo area.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.A2)
2007 Jun 26, The body of Alyssa Heberton-Morimoto, a summer intern for the Colorado Geologic Survey, was found in an isolated part of the San Isabel National Forest, 75 miles southwest of Denver. A suspect, who has used the names Dennis Cook, Dennis Lee Cook and Robert R. Amos, was arrested the next day and held for investigation of first-degree murder.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 26, Liz Claiborne (b.1929), fashion designer died in NYC. She revolutionized the way working women put together their wardrobes. Claiborne launched her label in 1976 after working for years as a relatively unknown dress designer. She retired in 1989 and left behind a company that by 2007 reached $5 billion in annual sales with 22,000 sites around the world.
(AP, 6/28/07)(WSJ, 6/30/07, p.A4)(Econ, 7/7/07, p.83)
2007 Jun 26, The Asian Development Bank in Thailand said Asian governments must promote clean energy such as wind and solar power to maintain their booming economies and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Residents across England mopped up after flash floods killed 4 people and forced hundreds from their homes.
(AP, 6/26/07)(Econ, 6/30/07, p.66)
2007 Jun 26, China launched a $1 billion fund to finance trade and investment by Chinese companies in Africa as part of efforts to nurture commercial ties. The Chinese government said inspectors have seized shipments of US-made orange pulp and dried apricots containing high levels of bacteria and preservatives. A 22-mile long bridge that its builders claim is the world's longest sea-crossing structure was formally linked-up just south of the business hub of Shanghai.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Colombia’s navy captured Edwin Alexander Torres, an alleged rebel suspected of masterminding a wave of recent bombings that killed 3 people and wounded dozens in Bogota.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 26, German authorities said a tax official, who stole more than $230,000 from the state by inventing taxpayers and claiming money owed to them, has been handed a jail sentence of three years and three months.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Sizzling temperatures in Greece, Italy and Romania brought power cuts and brush fires in a heat wave that has led to at least 38 deaths in southeast Europe in recent days.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Iran's state broadcasting company said it is launching an English-speaking satellite television channel to counter the West's influence in covering news.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Sunni tribal sheik was killed in a drive-by shooting in southwestern Baghdad. Culture Minister Asad Kamal al-Hashimi was identified by two suspected militants as the mastermind of a Feb. 8, 2005, ambush against then-parliamentary candidate Mithal al-Alusi. Al-Alusi escaped unharmed but two of his sons were killed. Newly arrived US troops southeast of Baghdad destroyed boats on the Tigris River and targeted networks believed to be bringing powerful roadside bombs from Iran as the military cracks down on extremists from all directions.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, In Jerusalem international Mideast negotiators searched for ways to revive peace talks after Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip. US officials said they were expected to name outgoing British PM Tony Blair as a senior envoy.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Japanese robot maker unveiled what it called the world's first prototype of an artificial hand with "air muscles" that can do even delicate work like picking up a raw egg.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Tokitaizan, whose real name is Takashi Saito (17), collapsed during a training session in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, and was confirmed dead a few hours later. On Oct 5 the Japan Sumo Association expelled stablemaster Junichi Yamamoto. On Feb 7, 2008, 3 wrestlers and a former trainer were arrested for Saito’s death.
(Econ, 10/13/07, p.46)(www.japantoday.com/jp/news/419435)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.49)
2007 Jun 26, In Jordan a 70-year-old woman who killed her daughter with an ax for giving birth to an illegitimate child and a man who shot a relative dead were each sentenced to prison in separate "honor crime" prosecutions.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Kenyan police killed two suspected members of a banned sect blamed for a string of recent murders and beheadings in a mounting crackdown.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, A Mozambican army vehicle carrying recruits overturned, killing 12 people and injuring 24.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 26, A seven billion dollar (5.2 billion euro) lawsuit pitting the Nigerian government against the world's biggest pharmaceutical company Pfizer opened with the US giant demanding the court dismiss the charges.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, UN nuclear monitors arrived in North Korea to discuss the communist nation's plans to fulfill its long-delayed pledge to shut down its main nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Tropical cyclone Yemyin lashed Pakistan's coastline with heavy rains and strong winds, killing over 400 people. 250,000 people were left homeless. Flooding killed more than 50 people in neighboring Afghanistan.
(AFP, 6/26/07)(AFP, 6/27/07)(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 26, In Somalia a roadside bomb explosion in Mogadishu killed five women and a man and wounded nine other people.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Taiwan's High Court rejected an appeal by President Chen Shui-bian's son-in-law against his insider trading conviction and increased his sentence to seven years' imprisonment.
(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 26, Zimbabwe's government announced sweeping price cuts in a bid to curb inflation and said it set up a unit drawn from all its security agencies to enforce the cuts. Retailers shunned a new government order to slash the prices of basic goods such as bread and sugar, arguing that such a move would drive them out of business.
(AFP, 6/26/07)(AP, 6/26/07)
2007 Jun 27, Under the banner, "If another world is possible, another US is necessary," 10,000 civil society activists gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, for the beginning of the first US Social Forum (USSF).
(IPS, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 27, Don Harvey and his wife, Joyce, of Oklahoma won a $105.8 million Powerball lottery. They chose to receive a $33.3 million lump sum after taxes instead of the full amount paid out over 29 years.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 27, In her first televised interview since being released from custody, a demure Paris Hilton told CNN's Larry King she would never again drink and drive and that her time in jail was "a time-out in life."
(AP, 6/27/08)
2007 Jun 27, The annual Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report said 9.5 million people in 2006 held at least $1 million in financial assets, excluding the value of their primary home, for a combined value of $37.2 trillion.
(SFC, 6/28/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 27, It was reported that the United Auto Group (UAG) will soon change its name to Penske Automotive Group. The company planned to become the sole US distributor of DaimlerChrysler AG’s Smart car in 2008.
(WSJ, 6/27/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 27, It was reported that Salvia divinorum, a leafy hallucinogenic green plant from Mexico, was readily available in the SF Bay Area for $15-50 a hit. The effect was said to be short-lived and not in wide-spread use.
(SFC, 6/27/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 27, Nevada Solar One, the first large CSP (concentrating solar power) plant built since the 1980s, went online with a capacity to generate 64 megawatts.
(Econ, 9/15/07, p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One)
2007 Jun 27, Torrential storms flooded parts of central Texas, stranding people on roofs, in trees and in vehicles. Constant downpours claimed 11 lives in the last 11 days.
(AP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, William M. Jenkins (b.1919), former CEO of Seattle-First National Bank, died on Bainbridge Island, Wash. His term ended after the bank was forced into a merger due to bad loans following the 1982 failure of Oklahoma’s Penn Square Bank.
(WSJ, 1/14/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 27, In Brazil police backed by helicopters raided Rio’s notorious Alemao shantytown and killed 19 suspected drug traffickers in pitched gunbattles.
(AP, 6/28/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.34)
2007 Jun 27, Gordon Brown became British prime minister, promising a new government with new priorities, after Tony Blair resigned to end a decade in power. Major Western powers agreed on the mandate for a new Middle East envoy and named Tony Blair to the position after he stepped down as prime minister. A statement from the Quartet (US, UN, EU, Russia) said Blair will focus on mobilizing international support and assistance for the Palestinians.
(AP, 6/27/07)(Reuters, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Canada’s government said it will ban all smoking in federal prisons next year to improve the health of prisoners, staff and visitors.
(Reuters, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Chinese inspectors, following a six-month crackdown, said industrial oils, acid, cancer-causing chemicals and other dangerous ingredients have been found in thousands of foods. The government said it closed 180 food manufacturers found to have used industrial chemicals and additives in food products. A state news agency quoted China's chief auditor saying auditors have found that officials stole or misused $1.9 billion in pension funds and other government money. Cases in the latest investigations stretched back to before 2000.
(AFP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/27/07)(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A8)
2007 Jun 27, Egyptian archaeologists said the mummy of an obese woman, who likely suffered from diabetes and liver cancer, has been identified as that of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt in the 15th century B.C., was known for dressing like a man and wearing a false beard. But when her rule ended, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Discovered in 1903 in the Valley of the Kings, the mummy was left on site until two months ago, when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for testing.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, An Egyptian state-run news agency said Ashraf Marwan (62), the controversial son-in-law of Egypt's late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, has died in London. Marwan was suspected of being a double agent for Israel during the 1973 war.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, Power blackouts hit 13 locations in Athens and 95 fires were reported across Greece amid a heat wave that has killed dozens of people in southeast Europe over the past week.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Iran 2 gas stations were torched early in Tehran as angry Iranians protested fuel rationing measures suddenly enforced by the government, while many other Iranians lined up to fill their tanks.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Iraq a parked car exploded near a Shiite shrine in the Kazimiya district of Baghdad killing at least 14 people. Roadside bombs killed five policemen in Samarra and another five civilians in Baghdad. In Sadr City two people were killed in separate cars enveloped in a barrage of gunfire. Unknown gunmen opened fire on a civilian car in southwestern Baghdad, killing a man and wounding his son who was riding with him. Gunmen opened fire on a minibus in western Baghdad, injuring five civilians including the driver. In all at least 80 Iraqis were killed or found dead across the country. 3 British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in southern Iraq. One American soldier was killed and 4 wounded in a roadside bombing in Baghdad.
(AP, 6/27/07)(AP, 6/28/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A19)
2007 Jun 27, Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip killed 13 Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy, and wounded over 40 others.
(AP, 6/27/07)(SFC, 6/28/07, p.A12)
2007 Jun 27, In Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said his plan for a United States of Africa should include creating a two million strong army to staunch recurrent conflicts which have ravaged many of the continent's nations. He was on his way to an African Union summit beginning on July 1 in neighboring Ghana's capital Accra.
(Reuters, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 27, A Kazakhstan court convicted 21 medical workers for their roles in infecting scores of children with the virus that causes AIDS in a case that has outraged the country. Health officials said 118 children and 14 mothers have been confirmed as contracting HIV. The Shymkent district court gave suspended sentences to five senior health officials. 16 medical workers were sentenced to prison sentences of up to five years.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, In Maputo US first lady Laura Bush announced $507 million in assistance would be approved for Mozambique to build roads and boost its battle with malaria, which kills about 150 Mozambicans each day.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, A special commission of Poland's Roman Catholic Church said that documents in secret police files showed "about a dozen" living bishops had ties to the communist-era secret services.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Moscow legislators approved a fifth term for Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, whom critics accuse of running the city like a personal fiefdom.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, South Africa's main international airport faced major disruption after a deadly cold snap which saw the heaviest snowfalls in Johannesburg for more than two decades.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Majzub al-Khalifa, a close adviser to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir tasked with handling the Darfur crisis, was killed in a road crash.
(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, A Swiss investigator said European governments have built a "wall of silence" surrounding their complicity with a CIA program that included holding terrorist suspects in secret jails.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Officials said independent tests carried out in Italy have confirmed the presence for the first time of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in poultry from Togo. Several thousand poultry birds have been found dead in Togo recently, most of them in the past week on the one farm in Sigbehoue.
(AFP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey's military chief, asked his government to set political guidelines for an incursion into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish guerrillas.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 28, President Bush's immigration plan to legalize as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants while fortifying the border collapsed in the Senate.
(AP, 6/28/08)
2007 Jun 28, The US FDA halted imports of 5 kinds of farm raised seafood from China after tests revealed trace amounts of carcinogens and antibiotics.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 28, The US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision condemned race-based school enrollment plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, but stopped short of banning it. The decision was denounced at a debate hours later by Democratic presidential candidates. The court also struck down an anti-trust rule nearly a century old, saying that it is no longer automatically unlawful for manufacturers and distributors to agree on setting minimum retail prices.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.A1, D1)(AP, 6/28/08)
2007 Jun 28, In Alabama a district judge ordered Richard M. Scrushy, former head of HealthSouth to immediately begin serving an 82-month prison sentence for bribery. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was sentenced to over 7 years in prison.
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 28, Biologists reported the conversion of one species of bacterium into another by replacing all of its DNA.
(SFC, 6/29/07, p.A9)
2007 Jun 28, The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would remove the bald eagle from the list of creatures protected under the Endangered Species Act.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.31)
2007 Jun 28, Bruce Kennedy (b.1938), former CEO of Alaska Airlines (1979-1991), was killed when his Cessna 182 crashed in Cashmere, Wash.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 28, A suicide car bomber hit a convoy of security contractors in Kabul, killing two US nationals and an Afghan woman and wounding three other Americans. The last of 18 mine clearing experts seized by the Taliban at the weekend were released unharmed, but the insurgent group has kept hold of key detection equipment as well as 3 specialist sniffer dogs. The Taliban beheaded a boy (15) in Zabul province after accusing him of spying for US forces. The headless body of Mir Zaman, who had been working as a translator for NATO-led troops in the eastern province of Paktia, was found in Logar province.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(Reuters, 6/28/07)(AFP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, An Angolan Airlines plane crashed into a house on landing, killing at least six people in M'banza Congo, a town about 180 miles north of the capital, Luanda.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Dramatic flooding replaced relentless drought in parts of eastern Australia, as PM John Howard expressed hopes that the country's worst drought in a century may be coming to an end.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Bolivian government began legal proceedings to seize the vast landholdings of a prominent opposition leader, saying the property was fraudulently obtained and should be given to a local Indian tribe. Soybean oil magnate Branko Marinkovic, an outspoken critic of President Evo Morales, said the 64,250 acres targeted by the government were obtained legally and are being used productively.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In central Bolivia 3 Bolivian soldiers and a Venezuelan sergeant died when an air force helicopter crashed.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Federal authorities in Brazil arrested 10 Brazilians accused of luring South American women to Spain and forcing them into prostitution.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Toronto the CN Tower, the world's tallest free-standing structure, showed off its high-efficiency LED lighting, giving a brief preview of some of the millions of color combinations that will flow up and down the 553-meter (1,815-foot) tower during holidays and special events.
(Reuters, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, Egypt banned all female circumcision, the widely-practiced removal of the clitoris, which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi said he had accepted a 2002-border ruling with the country's arch-foe Eritrea, but insisted on new talks on how to implement it.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, The European Commission said all Indonesian airlines and several from Russia, Ukraine and Angola will be banned from flying to the EU due to safety concerns.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Hundreds of ethnic Georgians confronted Russian peacekeeping forces in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, throwing paint and gasoline on the troops and forcing them to stop blocking a road project.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, African Union foreign ministers met in Accra, Ghana, to prepare a summit of heads of state next week, the focus of which will be the creation of the United States of Africa.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Greece a fire broke out in the forest on Mount Parnitha, 12 miles northwest of Athens, and burned for 5 days destroying some 11,000 acres.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Parnitha)
2007 Jun 28, In Iraq a car bomb killed 22 people in one of the capital's busy outdoor bus stations. A report of 20 beheaded bodies, allegedly discovered on the banks of the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, was later found to be false. 3 mortar rounds slammed into a popular shopping district in central Baghdad, killing 3 pedestrians. Mortars also fell early in eastern Baghdad's al-Amin neighborhood, killing 2 civilians and wounding 4 others. A car bomb exploded at a fuel station in western Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, killing one person and wounding 3 others. 2 suspected militants were killed when the bomb they were planting near a house of a US translator detonated prematurely. Insurgents launched a deadly coordinated attack on an American combat patrol, detonating a roadside bomb, then firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades at the soldiers.
(AP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/29/07)(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, Israeli President Moshe Katzav agreed to resign under an unexpected plea bargain that included no jail time for sex crimes, ending a year-long investigation. Israeli troops imposed a curfew on downtown Nablus and clashed with Fatah militants as the army's activities moved from Gaza to the West Bank.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, It was reported that Italy’s PM Romano Prodi estimated that unpaid taxes, including income from the black market, were equal to 27% of Italy’s GDP. The public debt stood at 106% of GDP.
(WSJ, 6/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 28, Shigetake Ogata (73), the former head of Japan's intelligence agency, was arrested on fraud allegations involving a $29 million purchase of the headquarters of the General Association of Korean Residents from a pro-North Korean group that he had monitored.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Kiichi Miyazawa (b.1919), former PM of Japan (1991-1993), died.
(AP, 6/28/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.B5)
2007 Jun 28, Lebanese troops killed at least six Islamic militants during a gunbattle in northern Lebanon.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar'Adua revealed personal wealth of $5 million, saying public financial disclosures should be standard practice amidst official corruption. Torrential rain brought Lagos virtually to a standstill as streets flooded with more than 50 centimeters (20 inches) of water, in places blocking traffic.
(AFP, 6/28/07)(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Salam Fayyad, the new Palestinian PM, delivered a stern warning to hundreds of Islamic preachers, including Hamas supporters: He won't tolerate calls for violence delivered from mosque pulpits and plans to collect militants' weapons.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, President Vladimir Putin welcomed Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez for talks at the Russian presidential retreat outside Moscow, saying economic affairs and military-technical cooperation were on the agenda.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Somalia a roadside bomb killed two Somali soldiers in Mogadishu in the latest of a string of attacks highlighting worsening security.
(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In South Africa public sector unions representing one million members called off a nearly monthlong strike, bringing an end to a labor action that shut down schools and crippled hospitals across the country.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Sudan China's No. 1 oil company, CNPC, and Indonesia's PT Pertamina agreed to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block, ignoring international efforts to isolate Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI has approved a document that relaxes restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass used by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries until the modernizing reforms of the 1960s.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, In Zambia US first lady Laura Bush promoted the role of faith-based organizations in combating disease in Africa as she launched an anti-malaria campaign.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Zimbabwe ordered a blanket freeze on the prices of all goods and services, urging members of the public to blow the whistle on retailers who ignore the latest edict.
(AFP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 29, The US Supreme Court said it will claims of Guantanamo detainees that they have a right to challenge their detentions in American federal courts.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A3)
2007 Jun 29, Michael Moore’s film “Sicko," a critical look at the US health care system, opened.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 29, The Apple iPhone went on sale across the US.
(SFC, 6/30/07, p.C1)
2007 Jun 29, Harry B. Henshel (b.1919), former president of Bulova Watch Co. (1959-1976), died in Scarsdale, NY.
(WSJ, 1/7/07, p.A4)
2007 Jun 29, George McCorkle (60), a founding member of the Marshall Tucker Band, died.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2007 Jun 29, Joel Siegel (63), American movie critic, died.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2007 Jun 29, Edward Yang (b.1947), who won best director in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival and was known for his realistic portrayals of modern Taiwan, died at his home in California of complications from colon cancer.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 29, Afghan and foreign troops killed four men in anti-Taliban raids in the eastern province of Nangarhar. A villager said the dead were innocent people: a father, two sons and a nephew from the same family. Police reported that four Taliban were killed and two policemen were injured in two clashes, one in Zabul and one in Paktia. In southern Afghanistan US-led coalition airstrikes left at least 30 people, including women and children, killed or wounded. In the southern Sangin district. An investigation the next day found that 62 insurgents had been killed. Afghan officials also said that 45 civilians were killed. NATO-led and Afghan troops clashed with Taliban fighters, leaving 15 militants dead. 3 children were killed and another wounded when an old rocket they were playing with exploded in Zabul province.
(AFP, 6/29/07)(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 29, In Minsk Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for a strategic partnership with Belarus, calling his counterpart a "brother-in-arms" and lamenting the pressure he said the US was putting on Minsk and Caracas.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Brazilian authorities began a 3-day raid an Amazon plantation where more than 1,000 laborers were found working 13-hour days, in horrendous conditions, cutting sugar cane for ethanol production.
(AP, 7/3/07)
2007 Jun 29, British police thwarted a devastating terrorist plot, discovering two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London's crowded theater and nightclub district. On Dec 16, 2008, Bilal Abdulla (29), an Iraqi doctor who claimed he intended only to frighten Britons, was convicted of conspiracy to murder with car bombs in London and Scotland.
(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 12/16/08)
2007 Jun 29, Britain's first postal strike in more than a decade was triggered by a row over pay and government plans to cut thousands of jobs. Union bosses claimed the 24-hour walkout would be carried out by up to 130,000 workers.
(AFP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Police closed a stretch of Canada's busiest highway and officials closed the country's main east-west rail line on fears that a native day of action could turn violent and disruptive.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, China enacted law meant to improve workers' rights, capping a round of unprecedented legislation by the communist government that included input from foreign companies and the Chinese public. A French-educated scientist was named China's health minister, becoming only the 2nd noncommunist appointed to the Cabinet since the 1970s. Beijing banned ten types of drugs for exaggerated effectiveness amid rising concerns of fake and tainted products in China's food and drug supply chains.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, In Egypt 33 students from Cairo's Ain Shams University were detained at a holiday camp in Alexandria and charged with holding a meeting "aimed at propagating the Muslim Brothers' ideology."
(AFP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Germany and Denmark agreed to build an 11-mile bridge spanning the waters between the two nations and cut travel times between Scandinavia and central Europe.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A German court convicted nurse Irene Becker (54) of murdering five patients at a top Berlin hospital with overdoses of medication, sentencing her to life in prison. Becker had argued she'd wanted to ease the suffering of some of the patients.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, At least six Iraqi soldiers were killed and five wounded when a suicide truck bomb exploded at their army post north of Baghdad. Two civilians were also killed in a barrage of gunfire that followed. A bomb exploded under an oil pipeline south of Baghdad, spilling crude oil and sparking a huge fire. US forces found around 40 bodies, bound and shot, in a fresh mass grave south of Fallujah. A US soldier was and three wounded when a sophisticated, armor-piercing bomb hit their combat patrol in southern Baghdad.
(AP, 6/29/07)(AFP, 6/30/07)(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Israeli President Moshe Katsav resigned as part of a much-criticized plea bargain that dropped planned rape charges and the threat of jail time.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A plane carrying Ivory Coast's PM Guillaume Soro came under heavy gunfire as it landed at an airport in a northern region dominated by rebels allied with the leader. 3 rockets killed four of his team and wounded 14 others.
(AP, 6/29/07)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.48)
2007 Jun 29, In Lebanon government soldiers shot at angry Palestinian demonstrators trying to march home to their besieged camp, and two people were reported killed and 29 wounded.
(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 29, Laura Bush wrapped up a tour of Africa by visiting a school and sitting in on a math class in Mali, saying she was impressed by education efforts in the country.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, A top official said the UN nuclear watchdog and North Korea have reached an agreement on how the agency will monitor and verify shutdown of the country's main nuclear reactor.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, In southwestern Pakistan hungry victims of monsoon-spawned floods rioted, protesting slow, meager aid reaching their marooned villages where many feared the receding waters would yield numerous bodies. Pakistani police fired tear gas to disperse a protest by some of the 1.1 million victims of a cyclone, as fresh storms hit India and flooded villages awaiting help in Afghanistan. The death toll rose to about 500.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 29, Mercosur, South America’s biggest trade block (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay), held a presidential summit in Asuncion, Paraguay.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.40)
2007 Jun 29, In Gaza City a Mickey Mouse look-alike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy his land.
(AP, 6/29/07)(SFC, 6/30/07, p.A9)
2007 Jun 29, Spanish researchers said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.
(AFP, 6/29/07)
2008 Jun 30, Louisiana’s Gov. Jindal vetoed a 123% pay increase passed the state’s legislators. Their pay had not risen since 1980. he had initially refused to veto the bill.
(www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=32011)
2007 Jun 30, BCE Inc, Canada's largest telecommunications group, agreed to a C$51.7 billion ($48.5 billion) offer from a group including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, in what the purchasers said was the largest buyout in Canadian corporate history.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 30, East Timor parliamentary elections got under way. The ruling Fretilin party narrowly defeated its rivals in elections, prompting the President Jose Ramos-Horta to call for a national unity coalition to avoid a collapse of the government.
(AP, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/5/07)
2007 Jun 30, American soldiers rolled into Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City slum in search of Iranian-linked militants and as many as 26 Iraqis were killed. Iraqi officials said the death toll was much lower. Residents, police and hospital officials said eight civilians were killed in their homes. In Muqdadiyah a suicide bomber blew himself up near a crowd of police recruits, killing at least 23 people and wounding 17. Fighting near the Sunni city of Ramadi left 23 insurgents dead.
(AP, 6/30/07)(SSFC, 7/1/07, p.A16)(AP, 7/2/07)
2007 Jun 30, An Israeli air strike killed 3 Palestinian militants in Gaza, including an Islamic Jihad commander long sought by Israel for involvement in rocket shootings at the Jewish state.
(AP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jun 30, Voting in general elections began in Papua New Guinea and was scheduled to continue to July 10. An average of 25 candidates stood for each of 109 seats. Bad weather pushed completion to mid July. The population numbered about 6 million.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.42)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.44)
2007 Jun 30, In Scotland a four-wheel-drive Jeep rammed into the main terminal at Glasgow airport and exploded in flames; the attack came a day after two cars rigged as bombs were found in London. Police arrested two men for the attack, one of them under guard in the hospital after being engulfed in flames when the Jeep crashed into the airport. The driver was later identified as Kafeel Ahmed (28), an Indian aeronautical engineer.
(Reuters, 6/30/07)(AP, 7/1/07)(SFC, 7/9/07, p.A8)(AP, 6/30/08)
2007 Jun 30, Gunmen shot dead two civilians in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, as the government and Tamil Tigers blamed each other for the latest in a string of such killings.
(AFP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun 30, Venezuela’s Pres. Chavez arrived in Iran for a two-day visit.
(AP, 7/1/07)
2007 Jun, New Haven, Connecticut, passed a proposal through the board of aldermen 25 to 1 for an ID card to be made available to immigrants on July 24. The mayor was supportive, Yale Law School provided legal representation, and local immigrant-rights groups lobbied for it. The first cards were issued in July.
(CSM, 7/17/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.29)
2007 Jun, The periodical cicadas of Brood XIII emerged in the Midwestern US.
(Econ, 6/16/07, p.39)
2007 Jun, A team from the Univ. of Wisconsin claimed to have developed a biofuel, called 2,5-dimethlyfuran, with a 40% higher energy density than ethanol.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.89)
2007 Jun, Wenda, a question-and-answer “knowledge community" product, developed by Google in China, was launched in Russia.
(Econ, 10/13/07, SR p.7)
2007 Jun, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi founded Dropbox, a San Francisco-based Internet file-storage company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_%28service%29)(SSFC, 7/14/13, p.D1)
2007 Jun, Algeria began construction on a $425 million hybrid power plant at Hassi R’mel. It will use sun and natural gas to generate 150 megawatts, 25 of which will come from solar panels, beginning in 2010. Solar panels were already in use for 18 off-grid Sahara villages.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A25)
2007 Jun, BP PLC said it will invest $90 million in a joint venture with UK-based D1 Oils PLC, a biofuels startup that is developing the jatropha plant in India and elsewhere. The oil rich, non-edible plant was first cultivated in South America and brought to India by Portuguese traders.
(WSJ, 8/24/07, p.A12)
2007 Jun, Cambodia received pledges from foreign governments, agencies and charities of $690 million in aid, 15% more than last year as China joined the pledge process.
(Econ, 6/23/07, p.49)
2007 Jun, The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) was created.
(Econ, 1/23/10, p.73)(http://treasury.worldbank.org/cmd/htm/CCRIF.html)
2007 Jun, In Iraq the US abandoned the construction of a desert prison and handed over the unfinished facility to Iraq's Justice Ministry. The ministry refused to "complete, occupy or provide security" for it. In March 2004, the Corps of Engineers had awarded a $40 million contract to global construction and engineering firm Parsons Corp. to design and build a prison for 3,600 inmates, along with educational and vocational facilities. Work was set to finish in November 2005. Violence in the area caused the project to fall way behind schedule. The US government pulled the plug on Parsons in June 2006.
(AP, 8/30/10)
2007 Jun, Italian officials broke up a terrorist ring with the arrest of four people, three in Milan and one in London, after examining financial records showing a steady transfer of funds from Tunisia allegedly used to recruit Islamic extremists and send them to terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
(AP, 9/6/07)
2007 Jun, The World Monuments Fund added the Jordan River Valley to its list of 100 most endangered sites. Israel, Jordan and Syria diverted over 90% of the Jordan River water annually for drinking and irrigation, reducing flow to the Dead Sea.
(SSFC, 8/12/07, p.A15)
2007 Jun, The UN numbered Palestinians in Lebanon at 420,000, but a quiet exodus was believed to have reduced the number to 250,000. They were overwhelmingly Sunni Muslims and had no right to own property, and no right to receive state schooling or medical care.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.46)
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