Today in History - December 29
Return to home
For Asian History: https://www.asiaobserver.org/category/news/on-this-day-in-asian-history
1170Â Â Â Â Â Â
Dec 29, Thomas Becket (b.1117), archbishop of Canterbury, was
murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by 4 English knights. Barons had
heard Henry II cry out, "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome
priest?"
   (AP, 12/29/97)(HN,
12/29/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1705Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Prosper Jolyot's
"Idomenee," premiered in Paris.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1709Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Elisabeth
Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine, was born. She
became tsarina of Russia (1741-1762).
  Â
(www.arthistoryclub.com/art_history/Elizabeth_of_Russia)
1721Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Madam Jeanne
Poisson de Pompadour, influential mistress of Louis XV, was born.
She was later blamed for France's defeat in the Seven Years' War.
   (HN, 12/29/00)
1776Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Charles Macintosh,
patented waterproof fabric, was born in Scotland.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1778Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, British troops,
attempting a new strategy to defeat the colonials in America,
captured Savannah, the capital of Georgia.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1782Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, 1st nautical
almanac in US was published by Samuel Stearns in Boston.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1785Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Johann Heinrich
Rolle (69), composer, died.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1797Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, John Wilkes
(b.1725), British journalist and politician, died. He opposed King
George’s policies in Massachusetts. In 1974 Audrey Williamson
authored “Wilkes: A Friend to Liberty.”Â
   (WSJ, 8/31/05,
p.B1)(www.eastlondonhistory.com/wilkes.htm)(ON, 12/11, p.9)
1800Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Charles Goodyear
(d.1860), inventor of vulcanized rubber for tires, was born.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1808Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Andrew Johnson,
the 17th president of the United States who succeeded Lincoln
(1865-1869), was born in a 2-room shack in Raleigh, N.C. [Waxhaw,
South Carolina]
   (AP, 12/29/97)(SFC, 12/21/98, p.A3)(HN,
12/29/98)(HNPD, 3/15/99)
1809Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, William
Gladstone (1809-1898), British statesman and four times Prime
Minister from 1868-1894, was born. He was called the Grand Old Man
of Victorian England. He began as a devout Tory but moved over to
the liberal camp. A biography by Roy Jenkins, “Gladstone,” was
published in 1995.
   (CFA, '96, p.60)(AHD, p.559)(WSJ, 1/14/03, p.D6)
1825Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Giuseppe Maria
Gioacchino Cambini, composer, died.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1825Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Jacques-Louis
David (b.1748), French painter (Death of Marat), died.
   (WUD, 1994 p.369)(MC, 12/29/01)
1831Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Adam Badeau
(d.1895), Bvt Brig General (Union volunteers), was born.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1834Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Thomas R. Malthus
(b.1766), English vicar, economist ("Essay On Population"), died.
   (Internet)
1837Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Canadian
militiamen, claiming self-defense, destroyed the Caroline, a US
steamboat docked at Buffalo, N.Y. It was being used to ferry
supplies to anti-British rebels in Canada.
   (AP, 12/29/97)(Econ, 11/22/03, p.25)
1837Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A threshing
machine powered by a single horse treadmill was patented in
Winthrop, Maine, by twins Hiram A. and John A. Pitts.
   (DM, 8/5/03)
1845Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Texas (comprised
of the present State of Texas and part of New Mexico, Colorado, and
Wyoming) was admitted as the 28th state, with the provision that the
area (389, 166 square miles) should be divided into no more than
five states "of convenient size." Sam Houston insisted on
maintaining control of offshore waters as a condition of joining the
union. The annexation of Texas led Mexico and the US to prepare for
war.
   (AP, 12/29/97)(Econ, 7/1/06, p.29)(SFC, 1/11/20,
p.C2)
1849Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Gas light was
installed in the White House.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1851Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The first American
Young Men's Christian Assn. (YMCA) was organized, in Boston.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1852Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Emma Snodgrass was
arrested in Boston for wearing pants.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1856Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Snow fell in San
Francisco and accumulated to 2-3 inches.
   (SFEM, 12/22/96, p.20)
1857Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Franz Liszt's "Die
Hunnenschlacht," premiered in Weimar.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1862Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Battle of Chicksaw
Bayou was fought by Sherman’s troops in order to gain the north side
of Vicksburg. Confederate armies defeated Gen. Sherman.
   (HN, 12/29/98)(MC, 12/29/01)
1862Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The bowling ball
was invented.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1876Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pablo Casals,
violinist, conductor, composer, was born in Vendrell, Catalonia,
Spain.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1876Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In the Ashtabula
train disaster a Pacific Express, carrying some 159 passengers and
crew, was traveling over a bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio. Only the
first engine of the train made it to the other side at 7:28 p.m. as
the bridge began to collapse. The rest of the train broke away and
plummeted to the bottom of the ravine below. Approximately 92 men,
women and children were killed. The bridge was owned by the Lake
Shore and Michigan railroad, and was the joint creation of Charles
Collins, Engineer, and Amasa Stone, Chief Architect and Designer.
After testifying before an investigative jury, Charles Collins
quietly went home and shot himself in the head. He was also buried
in the Chestnut Grove Cemetery, several feet from the mass grave.
Amasa Stone (1818-1883) committed suicide approximately 7 years
later. Stone was held partly responsible for the disaster by
the same investigative jury before which Collins had testified, and
was publicly scorned for many years.
   (http://deadohio.com/AshTrain.htm)
1879Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Billy Mitchell,
aviation hero Gen (WW I), was born.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1890Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The last major
conflict of the Indian wars took place at Wounded Knee Creek in
South Dakota after Colonel James W. Forsyth of the 7th Cavalry tried
to disarm Chief Big Foot and his followers. Seventy-year-old Sioux
chief Big Foot was killed by the 7th U.S. Cavalry during the
massacre at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. Three days later his
body was found frozen where he had been killed. The South Dakota
reservation had been left in disarray when Sioux leader Sitting Bull
was killed by Indian police on December 15, and as Big Foot led his
tribe away from the reservation on December 28, they were surrounded
by 7th Cavalry troops. The next morning, when the cavalry tried to
disarm the Sioux, shots broke out and during the next 6 hours, 146
Sioux men, women and children were killed. The 7th Cavalry lost 30
killed. The Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as some
300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.
   (HFA, '96, p.44)(AP, 12/29/97)(HN,
12/29/98)(HNPD, 12/29/98)
1891Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Edison patented
the "transmission of signals electrically" (radio).
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1905Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Charles Tyson
Yerkes (b.1837), financier, died in New York City. His estate was
valued at $4 million. Yerkes developed Chicago’s streetcar system.
His life was immortalized in Theodore Dreiser's Cowperwood trilogy:
“The Financier’ (1912), “The Titan’ (1914), and “The Stoic” (1947).
In 2006 John Franch authored the biography “Robber Baron: The Life
of Charles Tyson Yerkes.
   (WSJ, 8/29/06,
p.D5)(www.chicago-l.org/figures/yerkes/)
1907Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Robert C. Weaver
(d.1997), the first African American to serve on a president’s
cabinet, was born. He advised Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt on
Housing, Education and Employment. [see Jan 13,18, 1966]
   (HN, 12/29/00)
1908Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A patent was
granted for a 4-wheel automobile brake in Clintonville, Wisc.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1913Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The 1st movie
serial, "Adventures of Kathlyn," premiered in Chicago.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
1914Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In San Francisco
the Stockton Street Tunnel opened with fanfare by Mayor James Rolph.
It had first been proposed by Dr. Hartland Law in 1910.
   (SSFC, 11/2/14, p.A2)(SSFC, 12/21/14, p.D2)
1914Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The production of
Belgian newspapers was halted to protest German censorship.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1917Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Tom Bradley,
future mayor of Los Angeles, was born on a cotton plantation in
Calvert, Texas.
   (SFC, 9/30/98, p.A13)
1920Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syd Dernley,
hangman, was born.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1921Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sears, Roebuck
President, Julius Rosenwald, pledged $20 million of his personal
fortune to help Sears through hard times.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1924Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Milton Berle
(d.2002), comedian, at 16 made his debut at Loew’s State Theater in
Times Square for $600 per week.
   (SFC, 3/28/02, p.A15)
1926Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Germany and Italy
signed an arbitration treaty.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1926Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Rainer M. Rilke
(51), Austrian songwriter and writer (Wise Queen), died.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1929Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Indonesia police
arrested Sukarno and 100s PNI-leaders.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Fred P. Newton
completed the longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam the
Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1931Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The identification
of heavy water was publicly announced by H.C. Urey.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1934Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Federico Garcia
Lorca's "Yerma," premiered in Madrid.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1934Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Japan renounced
the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of
1930.
   (AP, 12/29/97)(HN, 12/29/98)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Mary Tyler Moore,
actress (Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People), was born in Brooklyn.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1937Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ireland’s new
constitution came into force. The Irish Free State became Eire. The
constitution included language that made blasphemy a criminal
offense.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Ireland)(SFC, 1/4/10,
p.A2)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Jon Voight, actor
(Deliverance, Midnight Cowboy), was born in Yonkers, NY.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1938Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Construction on
Lake Washington Floating Bridge, Seattle, began.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1940Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In a radio
interview, President Roosevelt proclaimed the U.S. is the ‘arsenal
of democracy.’
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1940Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, During World War
II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London, setting off
what came to be known as "The Second Great Fire of London." In 2006
Margaret Gaskin authored “Blitz: The Story of December 29, 1940.”
   (AP, 12/29/97)(SSFC, 12/17/06, p.M3)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ship carrying
Jewish immigrants were forced back from Palestine.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1947Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Hans van Meegeren
(b.1889), Dutch painter and forger, died. In 2006 Frank Wynne
authored “I Was Vermeer.”
   (WSJ, 10/14/06,
p.P10)(http://denisdutton.com/van_meegeren.htm)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Tito declared
Yugoslavia would follow its own Communist line.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1952Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The 1st
transistorized hearing aid was offered for sale at Elmsford, NY.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1955Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Barbra Streisand's
1st recording "You'll Never Know" at age 13.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1956Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President
Eisenhower asked Congress for the authority to oppose Soviet
aggression in the Mideast.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1956Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Salvage crews
began to clear the Suez Canal.
   (EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1957Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Singers Steve
Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were married in Las Vegas.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Saul Levitt's
"Andersonville Trial" premiered in NYC.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, "Thunderball"
premiered in US.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1965Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Christmas truce
was observed in Vietnam, while President Johnson tried to get the
North Vietnamese to the bargaining table.
   (HN, 12/29/98)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Star Trek's
"Trouble With Tribbles" 1st aired.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Paul Whiteman
(77), US orchestra leader (Fabulous Dorseys), died.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Jirisan became
South Korea’s first and largest national park. It was home to the
highest peak on the South Korean mainland. By 2020 South Korea's 22
national parks welcomed around 45 million visitors every year.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_parks_of_South_Korea)(Econ.,
12/19/20, p.65)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Turkish-Cypriot
government formed in Cyprus.
   (MC, 12/29/01)
1971Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Italy Giovanni
Leone (1908-2001) became president. He resigned 6 months before the
end of his 7-year term amid allegations of links to a payoff scandal
involving Lockheed Corp.
   (SFC, 11/12/01,
p.A19)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Leone)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Eastern Airlines
Flight 401, a Lockheed Tri-Star Jumbo Jet carrying 176 people,
crashed into the Florida Everglades. 75 people survived. In the end,
the crash was blamed on the crew's preoccupation with a landing gear
light.
  Â
(http://www3.gendisasters.com/florida/1415/everglades,-fl-jumbo-jet-crash,-dec-1972)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Life magazine
ended publication with the issue titled “Year in Pictures.” From
1936 it had produced over 1,860 issues. The magazine was resurrected
as a monthly in 1978 and ended again in 2000, From 2004 to 2007 Life
appeared as a weekly newspaper supplement. In 2009 electronic access
to its archives was made available.
   (www.pastpaper.com/List-Life1972.htm)(SFC,
9/28/09, p.D2)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US Operation
Linebacker II ended what had been the most intensive bombing
campaign of the entire war with over 100,000 bombs dropped on Hanoi
and Haiphong. Fifteen of the 121 B-52s participating were shot down
by the North Vietnamese who fired 1200 SAMs. There were 1318
civilian deaths from the bombing, according to Hanoi.
  Â
(www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1969.html)
1975Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A bomb exploded in
the main terminal of New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing 11
people.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1981Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President Reagan
curtailed Soviet trade in reprisal for its harsh policy in Poland.
   (HN, 12/29/00)
1982Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Coach Paul "Bear"
Bryant ended his career with Alabama. He logged 323 wins
(http://bryantmuseum.ua.edu/direction.cfm?dir=bio). In 1996 Keith
Dunnavant authored “COACH: The Life of Paul "Bear" Bryant.”
  Â
(www.amazon.com/COACH-Life-Paul-Bear-Bryant/dp/0684800411)
1983Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US announced its
withdrawal from UNESCO.
   (http://preview.tinyurl.com/33usdl)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Indian PM Rajiv
Gandhi claimed victory in parliamentary elections. The BJP entered
the parliament for the first time with 2 seats.
   (http://tinyurl.com/338zok)(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A12)
1986Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Former PM Harold
Macmillan of Britain (1957-1963), died at his home in Sussex,
England, at age 92.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The antidepressant
drug Prozac was allowed to go on the market. It was based on
fluoxetine, which increases serotonin levels in the brain by
preventing the cells that that produce serotonin from reabsorbing it
too quickly. It was discovered by Dr. Ray W. Fuller (1936-1996), Dr.
David Wong and Dr. Bryan Molloy of Eli Lilly.
   (SFC, 8/15/96,
p.C4)(www.prozactruth.com/fdalilly.htm)
1987Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, NASA delayed the
planned June launch of the space shuttle -- the first since the
Challenger disaster -- because a motor component failed during a
test-firing of the shuttle's redesigned booster rocket.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Federal
Aviation Administration, responding to the bombing of Pan Am Flight
103, announced tightened security measures for U.S. air carriers at
103 airports in the Middle East and Western Europe.
   (AP, 12/29/98)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In South Africa
Stompie Seipei (14) was kidnapped and killed by the Mandela United
Football Club, the bodyguards of Winnie Mandela. Jerry Richardson
was convicted of the murder and sentenced to a life sentence. Winnie
Mandela had sent a young man to the mission of Paul Verryn, a
Methodist minister, to try to trap him into a sexual liaison. She
then kidnapped 4 youths from the mission and beat them until they
agreed to accuse the minister of having sex with them. In 1997 he
reported to the truth commission that Mrs. Mandela asked him to do
it. Dr. Abu-baker Asvat, who examined Stompie, was also murdered.
The events were later described in the 1997 book "Katiza’s Journey"
by Fred Bridgland. Bodyguard Katiza Cebekhulu in 1997 testified that
he saw Winnie Mandela plunge a shiny object into Stompie. Pelo
Mekgwe, one of the 4 young men brought to the Mandela house,
testified in 1997 that chief bodyguard Jerry Richardson ordered him
to help kill Lerothodi Ikaneng, who survived a cut throat.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stompie_Seipei)(SFC, 9/17/97,
p.C2)(SFC,11/26/97, p.C4)(SFC,11/27/97, p.B2)(SFC, 12/4/97,
p.C2)(SFC, 11/30/99, p.A16)
1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Playwright Vaclav
Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia, the country's first
non-Communist leader in more than four decades.
   (AP, 12/29/99)
1990Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iraq denied a
report that it was engaged in secret contacts with the US to avert
war, and might withdraw from Kuwait before the January 15th United
Nations deadline.
   (AP, 12/29/00)
1991Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Boeing 747-200F
of China Airlines crashed into a mountain at Taipei and 5 people
were killed.
  Â
(www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/aircraft_detail.cgi?aircraft=Boeing+747)
1991Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin announced that Russia would create its own army; in a
separate year-end address, he also congratulated his countrymen for
avoiding the kind of violence seen in Yugoslavia.
   (AP, 12/29/01)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United States
and Russia announced agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, New York Gov.
Mario Cuomo commuted the prison sentence of Jean Harris, the
convicted killer of "Scarsdale Diet" author Herman Tarnower.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, David and Sharon
Schoo of St. Charles, Ill., were arrested at O'Hare International
Airport in Chicago upon their return from vacation for leaving their
young daughters at home, alone.
   (AP, 12/29/97)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Brazilian
President Fernando Collor de Mello resigned. Vice-President Itamar
Franco succeeded Collor as president. Franco proceeded to heal the
economy damaged by Collor’s erratic policies.
   (AP, 12/29/97)(Econ, 5/14/16, p.25)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Daniel arap Moi
(b.1924) was re-elected with 36% of the vote in the first multiparty
elections in Kenya in 26 years.
   (SFC, 10/17/96, A8)(http://tinyurl.com/33kpow)
1983Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US announced its
withdrawal from UNESCO.
   (http://preview.tinyurl.com/33usdl)
1983Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Nigeria Pres.
Shehu Shagari announced austerity measures. The country was already
suffering from high unemployment rates and general disillusionment
after the oil boom of the '70s.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, U.S. officials
confirmed the release in North Korea of Army helicopter pilot Bobby
Hall, 12 days after he was captured in a shootdown in which co-pilot
David Hilemon was killed. Due to the time difference, it was Dec. 30
in Korea when Hall crossed the demilitarized zone to freedom.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In East Turkey a
B737-400 flew into a mountain at Edremit and 55 people were killed.
   (http://tinyurl.com/98ytm)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The CNN financial
network was launched by Turner Enterprises.
   (http://tinyurl.com/bzy74)
1995Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Japan’s finance
minister (Masayoshi Takemura) announced the resignation of the
deputy finance minister (Kyosuke Shinozawa) over several scandals,
including the ministry’s cover-up of trading losses at Daiwa Bank’s
New York office.
   (AP, 12/29/00)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Egypt the
government arrested 240 linked to the outlawed Islamic group the
“Kotbioun,” a violent branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
   (SFC, 12/30/96, p.A8)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Guatemala City
the Accord on the Firm and Lasting Peace was signed at the National
Palace ending 36 years of civil conflict during which an estimated
250,000 people died or disappeared. One rebel unit in
Quetzaltenango, the Organization of the People in Arms, refused to
take part. The accord included provisions for education in 23
regional languages with Spanish. The peace accord mandated a report
by a UN "Historical Clarification Commission." The report was
completed and made public in 1999. In 2000 Susanne Jonas authored
“Of Centaurs and Doves: Guatemala’s Peace Process.”
   (WSJ, 12/13/96, p.A15)(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A7)(SFC,
5/27/97, p.A12) (AP, 12/29/97)(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A17)(SFEC, 3/7/99,
p.A22)(SFEM, 6/13/99, p.33)(SFEC, 8/20/00, BR p.12)(SFC, 12/30/17,
p.A4)
1996Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, N. Korea
apologized to S. Korea for sending a spy submarine into South Korean
waters in Sep. submarine incident.
   (WSJ, 12/30/96, p.A1)(AP, 12/29/97)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Newport,
Indiana, Orville Lynn Majors (36), a former nurse, was arrested for
murder and suspected in the deaths of 130 out of 147 patients that
died while he was on duty between 1993 and 1995.
   (SFC,12/30/97, p.A2)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Intel cut the
price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268.
  Â
(www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/17549/17549.html)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Algeria armed
attackers stopped a bus and killed 14 passengers and the driver near
Mascara. The bodies were then doused in gasoline and set on fire.
   (SFC,12/31/97, p.A8)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Hong Kong the
government planned to start killing over 1.4 million chickens to
combat the new strain of avian flu. Four people had already died of
the illness.
   (SFC, 12/29/97, p.A1)(AP, 12/29/98)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Kenya general
elections were scheduled. The law required the winner to receive 25%
of the vote. The elections were extended one day amid widespread
delays and confusion at the polls. Two people were killed during a
riot near Nairobi.
   (SFC,11/13/97, p.B2)(SFC,12/26/97, p.B7)(WSJ,
12/30/97, p.A1)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkmenistan and
Iran activated a key 125 mile gas pipeline. Plans were to make it
part of a network to Europe but for now the gas was only bound to
northeastern Iran.
   (SFC,12/30/97, p.B2)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Nevada 31 wild
horses were found shot to death by rifle fire at close range at
Devil's Flat near Washoe Valley.
   (SFC, 12/30/98, p.A3)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Two top Khmer
Rouge leaders apologized for the deaths of as many as 2 million
people during their regime in the 1970s, and asked Cambodians to
forget the past.
   (AP, 12/29/99)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Colombia rebels
claimed to have killed a right-wing paramilitary leader, Carlos
Castano, in a weekend capture of his northern stronghold. Other
sources denied the report.
   (WSJ, 12/30/98, p.A1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Cyprus Pres.
Glafcos Clerides decided not to import Russian-made anti-aircraft
missiles in order to reduce tensions with Turkey.
   (SFC, 12/30/98, p.A8)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Kosovo 5
Albanians died in fighting with Serb police as NATO repeated threats
of airstrikes. A group of US senators proposed to offer Milosevic
sanctuary in a 3rd nation if he would step down.
   (WSJ, 12/30/98, p.A1)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Lebanon the
Israeli army assassinated Zahi Naim Hadr Ahmed Mahabi, a top
Hezbollah explosives expert.
   (SFC, 1/2/99, p.C12)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Yemen security
forces attacked the kidnappers of 16 and 4 hostages were killed. The
freed tourists said that government forces initiated the battle that
left 3 Britons and an Australian dead.
   (SFC, 12/31/98, p.A10)(WSJ, 12/31/98, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Nasdaq
composite stock index closed over 4,000 for the first time
(4041.46). It had passed 3,000 only a few months earlier.
   (SFC, 12/30/99, p.A1)(AP, 12/29/00)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Afghanistan the
Indian Airlines hijackers dropped their demands for a $200 million
ransom and the body of a Kashmiri militant but haggled over the
number of militants to be released.
   (SFC, 12/30/99, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Austria an
avalanche killed 9 German tourists hiking near Galtuer. 13 people
were buried but 4 survived.
   (SFC, 12/30/99, p.A20)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Indonesia 3
days of strife between Christians and Muslims on Halmahera Island in
North Maluka province left some 250 people dead.
   (SFC, 12/30/99, p.A20)(SFC, 12/31/99, p.D6)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israel released 26
Palestinian security prisoners as part of the interim peace accord.
It was the first time Israel had released Palestinians who had
killed Israelis or tourists.
   (SFC, 12/30/99, p.C2)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Russian oil
tanker broke up and sank near the mouth of the Bosporus and coated
the Turkish shore with some 4,800 tons of heavy fuel.
   (WSJ, 12/30/99, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In South Africa
police arrested 3 members of a Muslim vigilante gang and seized bomb
materials linked to recent bombings near Cape Town.
   (WSJ, 12/30/99, p.A1)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pres.-elect Bush
filled four more Cabinet slots, tapping Wisconsin Gov. Tommy
Thompson as head of the Dept. of Health and Human Services.Â
Thompson was soon criticized for his ties to tobacco interests.
Colorado Attorney General Gale A. Norton was nominated as interior
secretary, Houston schools chief Rod Paige as secretary of education
and Anthony J. Principi to return as secretary to the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A1)(SFC, 1/11/01, p.A15)(AP,
12/29/01)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A ferry collided
with another ferry ship and sank on the Meghna River in southeastern
Bangladesh. At least 178 people were killed.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A12)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Colombia gunmen
killed Rep. Diego Turbay, a peace envoy, along with 6 other people.
A FARC unit was blamed.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A8)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Mexico congress
approved a $140 million budget.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Gaza a
Palestinian police officer was killed in a shootout as Israeli
soldiers bulldozed a grove of trees.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A8)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Sudan Gen. Omar
el-Bashir was declared the winner in elections marred by an
opposition boycott. Civil war prevented voting in 3 of the 26
provinces.
   (SFC, 12/30/00, p.A10)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US airstrikes in
Afghanistan’s Paktia province were later reported to have killed up
to 100 villagers.
   (SFC, 1/2/02, p.A6)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Thousands of
Antarctic penguins were reported dead or dying due to giant icebergs
that cut the birds off from their food supply.
   (SFC, 12/29/01, p.A2)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Argentina at
least 12 police officers were injured during protests in Buenos
Aires. The entire cabinet offered to step down.
   (SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A12)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A fireworks shop
exploded and caused a fire in downtown Lima that spread over 4
downtown blocks. At least 290 people were killed.
   (SSFC, 12/30/01, p.A12)(SFC, 12/31/01, p.A3)(WSJ,
1/2/02, p.A1)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Philippine troops
raided a camp of Muslim rebels linked to Osama bin Laden and killed
13.
   (WSJ, 12/31/01, p.A1)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Secretary of State
Colin Powell, making the rounds of the Sunday television talk shows,
said there was still time to find a diplomatic resolution to North
Korea's development of nuclear weapons, and that the situation
hadn't yet reached the crisis stage.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israeli soldiers
fired toward Palestinian protesters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
killing an 11-year-old boy and wounding a cameraman on assignment
for AP TV News.
   (AP, 12/29/02)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Cyclone Zoe hit
the Solomon Islands' Tikopia, Fataka and Anuta islands, with the eye
of the cyclone sweeping over Tikopia. The islanders survived and aid
arrived Jan 5.
   (AP, 12/30/02)(AP, 1/5/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Bush
administration said it will require international air carriers in
certain cases to place armed law enforcement officers on cargo and
passenger flights to, from and over the United States.
   (AP, 12/30/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Paul Goldman, a
native of Uzbekistan, stabbed and killed Faina Zonis in the
Philadelphia suburb of Bensalem. Goldman soon fled the country.
Police found his parents dead by suicide on Jan 13. Goldman was
captured in France on Jan 20, 2004. Zonis committed suicide Apr 11,
2004.
   (SFC, 1/17/04, p.A4)(SFC, 1/21/04, p.A3)(AP,
4/13/04)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Actor Earl Hindman
(61), who'd played the mostly unseen neighbor Wilson on "Home
Improvement," died in Stamford, Conn.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Burundi gunmen
killed Monsignor Michael Courtney, the pope's ambassador, firing on
his car as he was returning from a funeral.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China reported
that the China State Shipbuilding Corp. has broken ground on what it
says will be the world's biggest shipyard, a high-tech facility
capable of producing cruise ships and natural gas tankers at the
mouth of the Yangtze.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The roof of a
centuries-old Ethiopian church carved out of rock collapsed while it
was packed with worshippers, killing at least 15 people. The
800-year-old Mewa Tsadkan Gabriel church was in a remote area some
310 miles northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. It was built by
King Lalibela, who ruled there from the late 12th century to the
early 13th century.
   (AP, 1/3/04)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Rebels lobbed a
grenade and fired on U.S. soldiers searching homes for insurgents in
the northern city of Mosul, triggering a firefight that left three
Iraqis dead and two U.S. soldiers wounded.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Japan pledged to
forgive "the vast majority" of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club
nations do the same. China later said it would consider the idea.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Oscar Berger, the
pro-business former mayor of Guatemala City won an easy victory in
the presidential run-off, four years after he left politics and
swore he would never come back. Berger won 54% vs. 46% for Alvaro
Colom.
   (AP, 12/29/03)(Econ, 1/3/04, p.24)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Poland and Israel
signed a deal worth some $350 million over the next 10 years to
provide the Polish army with some 2,700 state-of-the-art Israeli
anti-tank missiles.
   (AP, 12/29/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Portugal 9 men
and one woman were charged with sexually abusing minors and
adolescents, rape and organizing a pedophile ring at the state-run
Casa Pia home. Among those indicted were 2 popular television
personalities, a lawmaker and a retired ambassador.
   (AP, 12/30/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that some 4,400 issues of the book entitled "FSB blows up Russia"
and authored by former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, now exiled in
Britain, were confiscated en route from the western city of Pskov to
Moscow. Litvinenko, a former lieutenant colonel, charged the FSB
with involvement in the bombings on September 9 and 13, 1999 which
destroyed two buildings in Moscow, killing more than 200 people.
   (AP, 12/30/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Serbia Vojislav
Seselj's Radical Party won weekend elections with 27% of the vote.
Nationalists won 82 seats but would have to negotiate with more
moderate parties to form a government. The Socialist Party led by
Slobodan Milosevic won 22 seats.
   (WSJ, 12/29/03, p.A1)(SFC, 12/30/03, p.A10)(Econ,
1/3/04, p.35)
2003      Dec 29, Jaime de
Pinies, a longtime Spanish diplomat who served as president of the
United Nations General Assembly (1985), died in Madrid.
   (AP, 12/31/03)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The international
Red Cross said that the death toll from the Dec 26 earthquake and
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean could rise to more than 100,000.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Afghanistan
masked gunmen killed Pashtun politician Shah Alam Khan, a close ally
of Pres. Karzai.
   (WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The first
Indonesian military teams reached the devastated west coast of
Sumatra island, finding thousands of bodies and increasing the death
toll across 12 nations to more than 76,700.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Insurgents tried
to ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military
post in the northern city of Mosul then ambushed reinforcements in a
huge gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were
killed.
   (AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Israel 4
antiquities collectors and dealers were indicted on charges that
they ran a global forgery ring for Bible-era artifacts.
   (SFC, 12/30/04, p.A2)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, About 10 Israeli
tanks moved into the Khan Younis refugee camp to stop rocket fire. 2
Palestinian gunmen were killed by tank fire.
   (AP, 12/30/04)(WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Puerto Rico's
governor-elect said he opposes the war in Iraq and wants to see a
reduction in the number of U.S. troops, including islanders, posted
in the troubled country.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ramzan Kadyrov, a
pro-Moscow Chechen leader accused by rights groups of kidnapping and
murder, earned Russia's highest award for "valor and heroism."
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Saudi Arabia
insurgents bombed two security headquarters in Riyadh, setting off
violence that left 10 attackers and one bystander dead.
   (AP, 12/30/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President Bush
assembled a four-nation coalition to organize humanitarian relief
for Asia and made clear the United States would help bankroll
long-term rebuilding in the region leveled by a massive earthquake
and tsunamis.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The international
Red Cross said that the death toll from the Dec 26 earthquake and
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean could rise to more than 100,000.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Afghanistan
masked gunmen killed Pashtun politician Shah Alam Khan, a close ally
of Pres. Karzai.
   (WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The first
Indonesian military teams reached the devastated west coast of
Sumatra island, finding thousands of bodies and increasing the death
toll across 12 nations to more than 76,700.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Insurgents tried
to ram a truck with half a ton of explosives into a U.S. military
post in the northern city of Mosul then ambushed reinforcements in a
huge gunbattle in which 25 rebels and one American soldier were
killed.
   (AP, 12/30/04)(SFC, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Israel 4
antiquities collectors and dealers were indicted on charges that
they ran a global forgery ring for Bible-era artifacts.
   (SFC, 12/30/04, p.A2)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, About 10 Israeli
tanks moved into the Khan Younis refugee camp to stop rocket fire. 2
Palestinian gunmen were killed by tank fire.
   (AP, 12/30/04)(WSJ, 12/30/04, p.A1)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Puerto Rico's
governor-elect said he opposes the war in Iraq and wants to see a
reduction in the number of U.S. troops, including islanders, posted
in the troubled country.
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ramzan Kadyrov, a
pro-Moscow Chechen leader accused by rights groups of kidnapping and
murder, earned Russia's highest award for "valor and heroism."
   (AP, 12/29/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Saudi Arabia
insurgents bombed two security headquarters in Riyadh, setting off
violence that left 10 attackers and one bystander dead.
   (AP, 12/30/04)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US Treasury chief
Snow said Congress must raise the debt ceiling, now at $8.18
trillion, by mid-February to keep the government running.
   (WSJ, 12/30/05, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An official said
the number of detainees on hunger strike at the U.S. military
detention facility in Guantanamo Bay more than doubled in the last
week to 84.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Suspected Taliban
rebels detonated a mine near a police checkpoint in southern
Afghanistan, killing four Afghan police officers and wounding seven.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Two suspected
Taliban suicide bombers died when explosives they were strapping to
their bodies exploded prematurely in southern Afghanistan.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Hannah Lessing,
chief fund overseer, said about 3,000 people have been cleared to
receive the first payments from an Austrian fund to compensate
Holocaust survivors, and another 3,000 should be approved shortly.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A British
opposition legislator called for an investigation into claims that
British security officers were involved in abducting and mistreating
terrorist suspects in Greece. 28 Pakistanis claim they were abducted
from their homes in Athens and other parts of Greece in mid-July,
shortly after deadly transit bombings in London.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Britain’s tax
authorities recognized the Maltese Stock Exchange (MSE). The equity
index of the MSE rose 60% this year.
  Â
(http://business.timesofmalta.com/article.php?id=3721)(Econ,
2/11/06, p.71)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China’s Premier
Wen Jiabao warned in a speech against land seizure abuses. The
speech was published Jan 20, 2006.
   (WSJ, 1/21/06, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Reporters at a
Beijing newspaper known for covering sensitive topics walked off the
job after editor Yang Bin was removed this week amid efforts to
tighten press controls.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China’s government
said about 300 million people living in the vast countryside drink
unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants in its
latest acknowledgment of mounting risks from widespread pollution.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China confirmed
its 7th human infection, and third human death, from bird flu, after
health officials revealed a factory worker (41) died from the
disease over a week ago.
   (Reuters, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Croatia
Slobodan Davidovic (52), an ethnic Serb seen killing Muslims in a
nationally televised video, was convicted of war crimes and
sentenced to 15 years in prison, with the judge saying he had shown
"no mercy or compassion" for his victims.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A man blew himself
up in what appeared to be an attempted suicide bombing near a mosque
in the Russian province of Dagestan, killing himself and injuring
another person.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ethiopia’s
government said a plan by Western donors to withhold $375 million in
aid from Ethiopia over the government's crackdown on opposition
supporters would have an "insignificant" impact on its budget.
Diplomats said the money would be reallocated to the UN and aid
agencies working to combat poverty in Ethiopia.
   (Reuters, 12/29/05)(SFC, 12/30/05, p.A3)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Drought was
reported to have triggered extreme food shortages in the East
African countries of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, putting millions
of people at risk of famine as the lean dry season approaches.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, France reported a
second death from freezing temperatures as blizzards swept through
northern and central Europe, forcing flight cancellations at Prague
airport and cutting power lines and rail links in Scandinavia.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Indian
government cleared an agreement to set up a free trade area for 7
South Asian countries, in a move expected to more than double the
size of the regional market. The landmark deal to create a South
Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) was signed in Islamabad in January
2004 during a regional summit with January 1, 2006 set as a deadline
for implementation.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Indonesia's
military acknowledged for the first time that its commanders in
Papua had received "support" from a U.S. gold-mining giant,
responding to allegations that Freeport-McMoRan Co. gave the army
millions of dollars to protect its facilities in the remote
province.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Top Iranian and
Russian officials agreed to hold talks on a Russian proposal aimed a
resolving Tehran's nuclear standoff with the West.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sunni Arab and
secular groups refused to open discussions with the Shiite religious
bloc leading in Iraq's parliamentary elections until a full review
of the contested results is carried out. An international team
agreed to assess Iraq's parliamentary elections, a decision lauded
by Sunni Arab and secular Shiite groups who have staged repeated
protests around Iraq complaining of widespread fraud and
intimidation. Fourteen Shiite men and women were gunned down in an
area south of Iraq's capital known as the "triangle of death." A US
soldier died in a bomb blast and a Lebanese was kidnapped in
Baghdad. A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police patrol
car in Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding five.
   (AP, 12/29/05)(AFP, 12/29/05)(AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Italy’s Newspaper
Corriere della Sera reported that prosecutors accused Premier
Berlusconi of ordering the payment of at least $600,000 to British
lawyer David Mills in 1997 to give false testimony in two trials
against the premier.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Mario Draghi, an
investment banker and former Treasury official, was named Bank of
Italy governor to succeed Antonio Fazio.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Kyrgyzstan's
president effectively ended the use of the death penalty in this
ex-Soviet republic by extending a moratorium on the punishment until
its planned abolition. Kyrgyzstan first imposed the moratorium in
1998 and has since repeatedly extended it.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Three U.S. oil
companies said they will end a 19-year absence in Libya and pay
$1.83 billion to resume oil production.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Seven policemen in
the southern Mexican state of Chiapas were detained on suspicion of
stealing relief packages intended for hurricane victims.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Authorities said
Mohammed Marwa, a former official in Nigeria's junta, has been
detained as part of a corruption probe in what was the first arrest
and questioning of a top official in the former ruling military
regime.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Palestinian
suicide bomber trying to enter Israel blew himself at a military
checkpoint set up to foil attackers, killing an Israeli soldier and
two other Palestinians.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Peru's Congress
ratified a law to create a Supreme Court judicial panel dominated by
retired armed forces generals to oversee the military's justice
system, a move human rights advocates say will hurt efforts to
prosecute military human rights abuses.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Peruvian human
rights groups detailed at least 46 cases this year of threats and
intimidation targeting investigators and witnesses pursuing human
rights abuses allegedly committed by the military during the height
of the Shining Path insurgency.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Philippine media
reported that 2 US Marines, who were accused of raping a Filipina
woman, have been allowed to leave the Philippines after prosecutors
decided not to file charges against them.
   (AFP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A fire in Manila’s
shantytown of Tondo, Philippines, left nearly 3,000 families without
homes.
   (SFC, 12/31/05, p.A12)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russia bought up
gas supplies from Turkmenistan to prevent Ukraine from getting them.
Russia was demanding a quadruple increase in gas prices.
   (WSJ, 12/30/05, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A fire broke out
in a home for the mentally ill outside Moscow, killing seven people
and injuring 12.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, South Korea's top
university said that Hwang Woo-suk fabricated all of the stem cells
he said were cloned from individual patients, a shattering blow to
the disgraced scientist's reputation as a medical pioneer.
   (AP, 12/29/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Switzerland's top
court ordered the extradition of Yevgeny Adamov, Russia's former
nuclear minister, to his homeland instead of the US, where he's been
indicted for allegedly diverting $9 million in US aid money to his
businesses. The Swiss court made its ruling Dec. 22 but it was made
public Dec 29.
   (AP, 12/30/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syria’s former
Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam said in a television interview
from Paris that Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened former
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri months before Hariri was
assassinated in a truck bombing.
   (AP, 1/1/06)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Venezuela’s
central bank approved using the euro to service demand from foreign
companies and to diversify dealings from the dollar.
   (WSJ, 12/30/05, p.A10)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US regulators gave
final approval for the $86 billion merger between AT&T and
BellSouth, the biggest merger in telecommunications history.
   (SFC, 12/30/06, p.C1)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United
Steelworkers union ratified a 3-year contract. Goodyear later
estimated that their 12-week strike cost the tire maker at least $30
million a week.
   (WSJ, 1/10/07, p.A11)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Advanced Marketing
Services of San Diego, the parent of Publishers Group West, declared
bankruptcy. This put over 130 independent publishers into financial
crises.
   (SFC, 1/27/07, p.A1)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Allentown, Pa.,
a fire swept through 4 downtown row houses killing 5 people. An
extension cord overload was blamed.
   (SFC, 12/30/06, p.A3)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Fugitive Taliban
chief Mullah Omar pledged in a statement to drive foreign troops out
of Afghanistan, as NATO and Afghan forces killed more than 10 of his
fighters in the volatile south.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A key witness in a
human rights trial stemming from Argentina's military dictatorship
was found beaten, two days after he went missing. Luis Gerez (51),
who has accused a former police chief of torturing him during the
1966-73 dictatorship, was found by a police patrol in a street of
Garin, north of Buenos Aires.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Bangladesh at least 3 people were killed and 100 hurt after two
ferries packed with passengers rushing home for a Muslim festival
collided in dense fog on the Meghna River.
   (AFP, 12/30/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Two American
sailors died after falling from a US submarine off the coast of
southern England.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Chile 13 former
dictatorship-era security agents were sentenced to prison terms
ranging from five to 18 years for four killings committed in revenge
for the bloody 1986 assassination attempt of dictator Gen. Augusto
Pinochet.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In India the
decomposing bodies of several children were found buried behind a
house east of New Delhi. The Noida police said Mohinder Singh
Pandher, the businessman who owned the house, and his servant,
referred to only as Satish, confessed to sexually assaulting and
killing at least 15 impoverished children and women during the past
two years. On Feb 12, 2009, an Indian court sentenced businessman
Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli to death Friday
for the murder of a young girl one of 19 victims in a case that has
shocked the country.
   (AP, 12/29/06)(AP, 12/30/06)(AFP, 2/13/09)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Senopati
Nusantara, a crowded Indonesian ferry, broke apart and sank in the
Java Sea during a violent storm. The vast majority of the nearly 640
passengers were still missing a day later. Some 200 people survived
the sinking.
   (AP, 12/30/06)(Reuters, 1/1/07)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US troops killed
six people and destroyed a weapons cache in separate raids in
Baghdad and northwest of Baghdad. Suicide bomber Murtada Latif
Kadhem (9) bombed a Shiite mosque in Khales, north of Baghdad. The
attack killed at least nine people, including the imam of the
mosque, and wounded at least eight. The boy’s mother, Suad
al-Obaidi, and boyfriend, Hamid Alwan, were arrested in 2011.
   (AP, 12/29/06)(AFP, 11/4/11)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, New census figures
said Nigeria's population had nearly doubled to an estimated 140
million people since the last count in 1991. Nigerian medical
authorities announced that the death toll in the oil pipeline fire
in Lagos had risen to 284 after 15 more people succumbed to their
injuries in hospital.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sinn Fein leaders
voted to convene an emergency conference and confront a pivotal
issue in Northern Ireland peacemaking, whether the IRA-linked party
should support the police.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Pakistan more
than 30,000 people were crowded into two camps, one for Bugti
tribesmen, the other for Marri tribesmen, in desert terrain at Murid
Bugti, about 160 miles east of the Baluchistan capital, Quetta. Over
the past three months, at least 61 Marri refugees, most of them
children, died because of the effects of malnutrition, weather and
other hardships. Camp residents said at least 15 Bugti refugees also
died.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A US Marine
convicted of raping a Filipino woman was whisked away from a Manila
jail to the US Embassy, almost a month after the US and Philippine
governments urged a local court to transfer him to American custody
during his appeal.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Somalia's prime
minister entered the capital, a day after an Islamic movement's
fighters retreated ahead of his Ethiopian-backed troops, and was
welcomed by thousands of cheering residents of the battle-scarred
city.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sudanese military
planes bombed two rebel positions in the north of Darfur just days
after the head of the African Union's peacekeeping force visited the
area to urge the rebels to join a cease-fire agreement. The African
Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan called for a halt to such
attacks.
   (AP, 12/31/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Thailand 2 teachers were shot and burned to death and a government
worker gunned down in attacks blamed on Muslim insurgents.
   (AP, 12/29/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Zimbabwe 17
elephants and a rhino were found killed. A game ranger based near
the famed Victoria Falls bordering the two countries was wounded.
Zambian poachers were suspected.
   (AFP, 12/31/06)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Nonja (55), a
Sumatran orangutan, was found dead at the Miami Metro Zoo. She had
lived in Miami since 1983 and was believed to be the world’s oldest
orangutan.
   (AP, 12/30/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Oakland, Ca.,
carjackers stole a state-issued Dodge Charger from state Senate
pres. Don Perata. Jared Adams (25) and his girlfriend, Maeve
Clifford, were arrested on Jan 10 in another stolen vehicle. Their
prints were found on Perata’s car, which had been found abandoned in
Richmond. Ryan McGough (28), a 3rd suspect in the carjacking, was
arrested in May, 2008. In addition to the carjacking Adams was later
charged with a shooting, 12 days after the carjacking, that left
Christopher Rodrizuez (10) paralyzed. In 2011 Adams was sentenced to
70 years in prison.
   (SFC, 8/12/08, p.B3)(SFC, 8/13/08, p.B4)(SFC,
8/17/11, p.C4)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Taliban militants
in Wardak province fired rocket-propelled grenades from their
vehicles at a convoy of private security guards on Afghanistan's
main highway, killing six guards and two police officers. Taliban
militants attacked a police checkpoint in the south and killed 16
officers.
   (AP, 12/30/07)(AP, 12/31/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Australia David
Hicks, the only person convicted of terrorism charges at a US
military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, walked free and said he did not
want to do "anything that might result in my return" to the prison
in Cuba.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China said Hong
Kong will be allowed to directly elect its leader in 2017 and all of
its lawmakers by 2020 at the earliest, an announcement that sparked
protests by pro-democracy activists who sought an earlier date.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In northeast China
19 miners died in a coal mine blast at the Shunfa Coal Mine in
Heilongjiang province, the latest casualties in the world's most
dangerous mines.
   (AP, 12/31/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A series of
explosions ripped through an army base in the Colombian city of
Medellin, killing at least two people and forcing nearby residents
to flee. The first of at least six large blasts was apparently
triggered by a grenade that detonated inside a weapons arsenal.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iraq's interior
ministry spokesman said that 75% of al-Qaida in Iraq's terrorist
network had been destroyed this year. Muqtada al-Sadr called for
reconciliation between his followers and Iraqi security forces in
Karbala. Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting
al-Qaida and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel
in a new audiotape, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for
destruction."
   (AP, 12/29/07)(AP, 12/30/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Shu Uemura (79),
Japanese makeup artist, died. He had won acclaim in Hollywood and
built an international cosmetics brand under his name.
   (AP, 1/8/08)(WSJ, 1/12/08, p.A10)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Kenya's
presidential rivals were neck-and-neck with nearly 90 percent of
official results counted as accusations of rigging ignited ethnic
violence across the east African nation.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Pakistan an
Islamic militant group said it had no link to Benazir Bhutto's
killing and the opposition leader's aides accused the government of
a cover-up, disputing the official account of her death. The
government said mass rioting has killed 38 people and caused tens of
millions of dollars in damage.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Palestinian PM
Salam Fayyad said his security forces had arrested a number of
suspects in the killings of two off-duty Israeli soldiers in the
West Bank and had given Israeli authorities weapons taken from the
dead men by their attackers.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Scottish
government said a new case of bluetongue has been detected for the
first time in Scotland.
   (AFP, 12/29/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sudan accused
Chadian aircraft of bombing its western Darfur region in what it
called "repeated aggressions" by its western neighbor. a Sudanese
foreign ministry statement said 3 Chadian war planes bombed two
areas in West Darfur on December 28.
   (AFP, 12/30/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Zimbabweans formed
queues at banks to beat a December 31 deadline to hand in a currency
series phased out by the central bank.
   (AP, 12/29/07)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US federal
government approved $6 billion in aid to GMAC LLC, the financing
company vital to the future of General Motors.
   (WSJ, 12/30/08, p.A1)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Citigroup Inc said
it is injecting $800 million of new capital into its South Korean
banking arm, joining other banks in efforts to shore up their
financial bases.
   (Reuters, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Yellowstone
National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third
straight day, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more
than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come.
   (AP, 12/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Freddie Hubbard
(b.1938), Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter, died in Los Angeles.
   (WSJ, 12/30/08,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Hubbard)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Lt. Gen. Victor H.
Krulak (b.1913), Marine commandant (1995-1999), died. His book
“First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps” (1984),
examined the history and culture of the US Marine Corps.
   (WSJ, 1/3/09, p.A5)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, In Afghanistan 14
children were among 20 Afghans killed in new extremist attacks in
Khost province. A remote-controlled bomb exploded outside a music
shop in the southern town of Tirin Kot, killing one person and
wounding two. In Helmand province soldiers and police killed 7
insurgents as Taliban militants attacked a police post.
   (AFP, 12/28/08)(SFC, 12/30/08, p.A3)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bangladeshis voted
in their droves in elections that marked the end of two years of
emergency rule, with a pair of rival former prime ministers vying to
reclaim power in the impoverished nation. Former PM Sheikh Hasina
won a landslide victory.
   (AFP, 12/29/08)(AP, 12/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The British pound
fell to a record low against the euro, flirting with one pound per
euro as two gloomy economic forecasts stoked expectations that the
Bank of England will make further interest rate cuts next year.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Canadian searchers
recovered the bodies of six of the eight snowmobilers missing since
they were hit by a pair of avalanches in southeast British Columbia.
   (AP, 12/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Top brass from the
Chinese and Russian armies hailed closer ties in their first-ever
conversation over a newly installed military hot line.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In China 9 people
went on trial in connection with the tainted milk scandal.
This followed the announcement of steps to compensate the
families of hundreds of thousands of children harmed by contaminated
infant formula.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Ethiopia
Birtukan Midekssa (35), head of the Unity for Democracy Justice
party, was arrested and resumed serving her life term after her
pardon from a life sentence was revoked. She had irked the regime
when she reportedly claimed during a recent visit to Europe that she
had never voiced remorse or acknowledged any mistake to obtain her
pardon in 2007.
   (AFP,
12/31/08)(www.jimmatimes.com/article.cfm?articleID=31713)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ted Lapidus
(b.1929), French fashion designer who redefined chic with the 1960s
unisex look, died. Lapidus created his label in 1951, and in 1963
became a member of the prestigious Paris fashion club that runs
haute-couture, La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.
   (AP, 12/30/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Germany Munich
Re, the world's number two reinsurer, said natural disasters killed
over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating
years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal.
   (AFP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The African Union
suspended Guinea after a military coup in the west African nation.
   (AFP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Indian Coast
Guard rescued two people off India's east coast during a search for
more than 300 illegal immigrants missing for the past four days and
feared dead. Survivors told Indian authorities that more than 300
people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, members of the ethnic Rohingya
minority, had jumped from a rickety boat that had been drifting for
13 days in the Indian Ocean and tried to swim to shore near the
Andaman Islands. On Jan 16 a refugees' advocacy group accused the
Thai navy of tying up four illegal immigrants and throwing them into
the ocean before abandoning hundreds of others on a barge in open
water, where some 300 drowned. At least 100 were rescued in Indian
waters. Survivors at the time told Indian authorities they had been
detained by Thai authorities, who towed them into the open sea and
left them.
   (AP, 12/30/08)(AP, 1/16/09)(SSFC, 1/18/09, p.A5)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In India Manjit
Bawa 67), a leading Indian artist, died. His work had highlighted
peaceful coexistence.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Iran 5
hard-line student groups and a conservative clerical group launched
a registration drive, seeking volunteers to carry out suicide
attacks against Israel.
   (AP, 12/31/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israel obliterated
symbols of Hamas power on the third day of what the defense minister
described as a "war to the bitter end," striking next to the Hamas
premier's home, and devastating a security compound and a university
building. The three-day death toll rose to at least 315, with some
1,400 wounded. One medium-range rocket fired at the Israeli city of
Ashkelon killed an Arab construction worker and wounded several
others. Egypt opened its borders to Gaza and allowed trucks loaded
with humanitarian aid to enter the Rafah terminal. A Palestinian
stabbed and wounded four Israelis in a West Bank settlement before
he was shot and wounded.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Scottish police
charged Justice Ngema (35) with attempting to murder Magdeline
Makola (38), a nurse who was found locked in the trunk of her car,
where police say she may have been kept for up to 10 days. Makola
had been reported missing after she failed to show up for work at
the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Dec. 18. She was last seen Dec. 15.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Abdullahi Yusuf,
the president of Somalia's UN-backed government, resigned amid
deepening international pressure, a move that could usher in more
chaos as a strengthening Islamic insurgency scrambles for power.
   (AP, 12/29/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Sudan Lt.
Commander Pape Lamine Ndiaye, a Senegalese military officer, died
after being shot in Darfur on Dec 27, whilst serving with the AU
peacekeeping force.
   (AFP, 12/31/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an immediate cease-fire in
Gaza and urged Mideast and world leaders to do more to help end the
Israeli-Hamas conflict and promote political dialogue.
   (AP, 12/30/08)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US Treasury
Dept. pumped $29.3 million into 10 banks, which will be the last to
receive investments as part of the taxpayer funded Capital Purchase
Program.
   (SFC, 1/1/10, p.D3)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Afghanistan an
American soldier was killed and two Italian soldiers were injured
when an Afghan soldier opened fire on a base in the province's Bala
Murghab district.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A security source
said Algerian border guards have seized more than four tons of
cannabis following a skirmish with smugglers.
   (AF, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China brushed
aside international appeals and executed by lethal injection Akmal
Shaikh (53), a British drug smuggler, who relatives said was
mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into crime. Shaikh, a Briton
of Pakistani descent, was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase
with almost 9 pounds (4kg) of heroin into China on a flight from
Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs
and that the suitcase wasn't his. He was convicted in 2008 after a
half-hour trial.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In China the
government of Xinjiang, a restive Chinese Muslim region rocked
recently by ethnic strife, adopted what appeared to be a sweeping
law barring the spread of views deemed to threaten national unity.
The law bars individuals and organizations from spreading opinions
deemed not conducive to national unity and also from gathering,
producing and spreading information to that effect.
   (AP, 12/31/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egypt's top
diplomat said Israel's PM Netanyahu presented Egypt with ideas for
restarting Mideast peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals
that go further than past Israeli positions.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In France an armed
robber burst into a jewelry store in southern Paris and made off
with euro100,000 ($144,330) worth of watches and jewels.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iran's
conservative parliament called for maximum punishment of opposition
demonstrators as the regime stepped up its crackdown on dissent
arresting the sister of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. Tens of
thousands of government supporters rallied, and a reformist party
called on Iran's rulers to apologize to the nation two days after
eight people were killed in anti-government protests.
   (AFP, 12/29/09)(Reuters, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In central Iraq
gunmen killed five Sunni security guards, including one by
beheading, in a gruesome pre-dawn slaying at a Tal Massoud village
checkpoint. The victims were part of the Sunni tribe of Khazraj.
They are the latest example of attacks on Sahwa, the Arabic word for
Awakening. An Iraqi army intelligence officer was killed in the
eastern Baghdad neighborhood of al Baladiyat. Drive-by shooters
targeted Iraqi Army 1st Lt. Wadi Direa Atiyah as he was driving his
car.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Mexico City
enacted Latin America's first law recognizing gay marriage and said
it hopes to attract same-sex couples from around the world to wed.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Mexico Luis "El
Gil" Sanchez (29) was arrested in Ensenada, about 50 miles (80km)
south of Tijuana. Sanchez was the alleged leader of at least 10
criminal cells working for Teodoro Garcia Simental, a renegade
lieutenant who broke away from the Arellano Felix cartel. Gunmen
attacked a car dealership and an adjacent hospital in the border
city of Tijuana, forcing the evacuation of some patients. The
attackers doused about 10 cars at the dealership with gasoline and
set them alight. Cartels commonly extort "protection" fees from
businesses, which are sometimes firebombed if their owners refuse to
pay.
   (AP, 12/30/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russia’s PM
Vladimir Putin said that Russia will build new weapons to offset the
planned US missile defense and urged Washington to share detailed
data about its missile shield under a new arms control deal. The
Kremlin said President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill banning the
jailing of people suspected of tax crimes and has fired another
senior prison official following the death in custody of a tax
lawyer in November.
   (AP, 12/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sudan's parliament
adopted a key law, setting up a planned referendum on southern
independence after northern and southern leaders overcame a dispute
that had threatened a 2005 peace deal.
   (AFP, 12/30/09)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President Barack
Obama bypassed Congress to name the first US ambassador to Syria in
nearly six years. Obama took the controversial step of forcing
through the appointments of Ambassador Robert Ford and five other
officials while the Senate, which normally needs to confirm
nominations, was out of session.
   (AF, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Wayne,
Michigan, a natural gas explosion destroyed a furniture store,
killed two people and injured two others. Owner Paul Franks was in
critical condition.
   (AP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Groups including
the UN, Harvard University, Google Inc and Not On Our Watch, an
organization co-founded by actor George Clooney, launched the
Satellite Sentinel Project, a project using satellites to "watch"
Sudan for war crimes before a vote that could split the African
country in two.
   (Reuters, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In eastern
Afghanistan US forces clashed with insurgents, fending off a Taliban
assault for the second time in as many days. NATO said it and Afghan
forces have detained a Taliban leader in the southwestern province
of Nimroz. NATO forces killed at least 5 Taliban fighters over night
in Nangarhar province. Two slain Taliban commanders were identified
as Shir Zaman and Zhir Gull.
   (AP, 12/29/10)(SFC, 12/30/10, p.A4)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An Angolan court
sentenced Jean Antuan Pwaty (42) a Congolese citizen, to 24 years in
prison following the Jan 8 attack on Togo's national soccer team
that killed two people and left eight others wounded including a
goalkeeper. Pwaty was convicted of murder, armed rebellion and
attempted murder.
   (AP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Australia’s
military cleared a town in eastern Australia, airlifting the entire
population of 300 people by helicopter in Theodore, where waters
were continuing to rise after days of drenching rain. A total of
1,000 people were evacuated from central and southern Queensland
state.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Belarus lawyers
said the seven presidential candidates who were arrested after this
month's election have been formally charged with organizing a mass
public disturbance and face up to 15 years in prison.
   (AP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Belgian priest
published a confession to a child sex-abuse accusation that came to
light during a campaign to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize
for his work fighting globalization's impact on developing
countries. In October, after supporters of Francois Houtart (85)
began working to nominate him for the Nobel, a woman contacted the
nonprofit organization he founded and said the priest had abused her
brother 40 years ago.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Brazilian media
reported that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has decided not to
extradite former Italian guerrilla Cesare Battisti, a move that
could hurt ties with Italy.
   (Reuters, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Canada said it no
longer recognized the Ivory Coast ambassador to Ottawa appointed by
president Laurent Gbagbo, and that it would welcome new diplomatic
representation from the West African nation.
   (AFP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Cuba’s official
Gazette said that effective January 1, personal cleanliness products
will be cut from ration books that islanders have come to rely on as
part of a small supply of basic goods.
   (SFC, 12/30/10, p.A2)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Denmark 4 men
planning to shoot as many people as possible in a building housing
the newsroom of a paper that published cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad were arrested in an operation that halted an imminent
attack. The 4 were Swedish residents, a Tunisian (44), a
Lebanese-born man (29), an Iraqi asylum seeker, and a 30-year-old
whose national origin was not released. Police in Stockholm arrested
a Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin, suspected of being linked to
the plot. Denmark freed the Iraqi suspect the next day due to an
apparent lack of evidence. The trial of Munir Awad, Omar Abdalla
Aboelazm, Mounir Ben Mohamed Dhahri and Sabhi Ben Mohamed Zalouti
opened on April 13, 2012.
   (AP, 12/29/10)(AP, 12/30/10)(AP, 4/13/12)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Egypt flood
waters caused by torrential rains earlier this week swept a bus
packed with 77 schoolgirls and their teachers off a highway in the
country's south, ending in the tragic death of 15 people, most of
them students. The last two survivors were pulled out of the waters
in the early hours Dec 31.
   (AP, 12/31/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The spokesman for
the EU's anti-piracy force said Somali pirates over the Christmas
weekend unsuccessfully targeted two ships, going farther south than
ever before to attack vessels.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Haiti Paul
Waggoner, an American aid worker, was released from a notoriously
overcrowded Haitian prison after a judge apparently cleared him of
allegations that he kidnapped an infant from a hospital where he
worked as a volunteer. Waggoner had been in custody for 18 days
while authorities investigated the allegations of Frantz Philistin,
a Haitian man whose infant son was treated at a hospital in
Petionville in February.
   (AP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Honduras and
Mexico announced they have agreed to create a high-level group to
combat attacks on undocumented Honduran migrants who are passing
through the country en route to the United States.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A payments dispute
between India and Iran escalated after Tehran refused to sell oil to
India under New Delhi's prohibitive new rules. Last week, the
Reserve Bank of India said deals with Iran must be settled outside
the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) system, used by central banks of
member nations to settle bilateral trades.
   (Reuters, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Iraq 3 al-Qaida
suicide bombers attacked a police building in Mosul, leveling the
building and killing Lt. Col. Shamil al-Jabouri, the city's top
commander. He had escaped at least five previous assassination
attempts. On of the suicide bombers was shot dead before setting off
his explosives belt.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Mexico gunmen
believed to be linked to drug cartels killed 4 police officers and a
doctor in apparently coordinated attacks in and around the northern
city of Monterrey. Six people were found dead in the southern state
of Guerrero.
   (AP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Igor Luksic
(b.1976) took office as prime minister of Montenegro.
   (Econ, 6/16/12,
p.63)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Luk%C5%A1i%C4%87)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Nigeria 2 bombs exploded during a political rally in Yenegoa,
Bayelsa state. No one was killed but a number of people were taken
to hospital with injuries. Suspected Islamists killed 8 people,
including 3 policemen, in five separate attacks in the northern city
of Maiduguri.
   (Reuters, 12/29/10)(AFP, 12/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Northern
Ireland frustration and fears of disease mounted as 36,000 people
were left without water, some for more than a week, after a deep
freeze and a sudden thaw caused aging pipes to burst.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pakistan's
US-allied ruling party scrambled to keep its fragile coalition
government in power as its senior leaders met with two dissident
political partners, urging them to rejoin the Cabinet.
   (AP, 12/29/10)Â
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas traveled to Brazil to lay the symbolic
foundation stone of a Palestinian embassy in Brasilia.
   (AFP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In the Philippines
a gift-wrapped grenade exploded and killed a woman (31) when she
opened the package inside her house in an upscale neighborhood of
Manila.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Russian a court
ordered 3 men to be them held in custody at least until the end of
the week. Investigators had arrested two men and Andrei Chernyshev,
a government official, who is believed to have ordered the November
attack and brutal beating of environmental activist Konstantin
Fetisov.
   (AP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Spain's government
formally launched the privatization of air traffic control in 13
airports, just weeks after clamping down on a wildcat strike by
controllers.
   (AFP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sudan demanded a
detailed UN audit on a program to rehabilitate ex-civil war soldiers
following charges that millions of dollars have been embezzled or
mismanaged.
   (AFP, 12/29/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The UAE embassy in
Ottawa said on its website that Canadians would be charged $250 for
a 30-day single entry visa while a six-month multiple entry visa
would cost $1000, with a maximum stay of 14 days during each visit.
Tensions have risen between the two countries since Canada denied
expanded landing rights for UAE airlines flying to Canada. That
triggered a UAE government decision to end access to a military base
used by the Canadian military to support troops in Afghanistan.
   (Reuters, 12/29/10)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Obama
administration announced an arms deal with Saudi Arabia valued at
nearly $30 billion. It included 84 F-15 fighter jets.
   (SFC, 12/30/11, p.A5)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The California
Supreme Court handed down a decision to dissolve redevelopment
agencies across the state.
   (Fog Cutter, Spring, 2012, p.2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Minnesota based
Sunrise Community Banks apologized for shutting the accounts of
money transfer shops handling Somalia-related business. It called
for unspecified government remedies to allow them to continue the
business. The association of three banks, announced in early
December that it would close the accounts of a dozen or so money
transfer shops serving an estimated 30,000 Somalis in the region.
   (AFP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Crawford Shaw, of
Bedford, NY, claimed a multimillion dollar Iowa Lottery prize on
behalf of a trust, less than two hours before it expired. He later
identified the recipient only as a corporation in the country of
Belize. On Jan 26, Shaw withdrew his claim on the prize just as
mysteriously as he has made it. The payout for the prize would have
been $7.5 million cash, or $10.3 million spread over 25 years after
taxes.
   (AP, 1/27/12)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Virginia
Republican Gov. Robert McDonnell signed off on state rules to
regulate abortion clinics like hospitals.
   (SFC, 12/30/11, p.A8)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Verizon said it
will start charging a $2 “convenience fee” for every payment
subscribers make over the phone or online services with their credit
cards, effective Jan 15. Verizon retracted the decision the next day
following a storm of criticism.
   (SFC, 12/30/11, p.C2)(Reuters, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A man dressed in
Afghan army fatigues shot dead two French soldiers. The Taliban
claimed responsibility, saying the soldier joined the army in order
to carry out his attack in Kapisa province. A roadside bomb killed
10 Afghan police returning from a recruitment center in Helmand
province. Another roadside bombing killed a local police commander
in the southern province of Kandahar.
   (AFP, 12/29/11)(AFP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Reynaldo Bignone
(85), Argentina's last dictator (1982-83), was convicted of more
crimes against humanity, this time getting 15 years in prison for
setting up a secret torture center inside a hospital during the 1976
military coup. Also convicted were SWAT team leader Luis Muina (57),
and a former air force brigadier, Hipolito Rafael Mariani (85).
   (AP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China executed 12
people today, including a man who bombed a local tax office. Liu
Zhuiheng had been convicted and sentenced to death for detonating
explosives outside a tax office in Changsha city in Hunan province
in July, 2010. The attack left 4 people killed and 17 others
wounded.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egyptian soldiers
and police stormed non-governmental organization offices throughout
the country, banning employees inside from leaving while they
interrogated them and searched through computer files. At least 18
offices were targeted in the raid. A court acquitted five policemen
of charges of killing five protesters and wounding six others during
the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's longtime regime.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Indonesia a mob
led by Sunni fanatics torched Shia property in eastern Java. Local
police did nothing to protect the minority Shias.
   (Econ, 1/21/12, p.52)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Iran a website
belonging to Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who
has criticized the current regime, was shut down.
   (AFP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Italian PM Mario
Monti announced a series of measures designed to relaunch the
country’s struggling economy.
   (SFC, 12/30/11, p.A7)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Jamaica held
parliamentary elections. The candidate of the ruling center-right
Jamaica Labor Party, Andrew Holness (39), was the youngest prime
minister in Jamaica's history. The top opposition candidate, Portia
Simpson Miller (66) has been a stalwart of the People's National
Party since the 1970s. Voters threw out the ruling party and
delivered a landslide triumph to the opposition People's National
Party (PNP), whose campaign energetically tapped voter
disillusionment especially among the numerous struggling poor.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Kenyan troops
clashed with Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab militants leaving
several dead, the latest casualties in weeks of dragging conflict in
southern Somalia.
   (AFP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Myanmar a fire
followed by several explosions engulfed many state warehouses and
neighboring homes, killing at least 16 people and injuring 108 in
the main city of Yangon.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, North Korea's
power brokers publicly declared Kim Jong Un the country's supreme
leader for the first time at a massive public memorial for his
father, cementing the family's hold on power for another generation.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southwestern
Pakistan gunmen killed police Surgeon Baqir Shah in Quetta. He had
received threats for his role in investigating the deaths of five
foreigners at the hands of security forces earlier this year.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Palestinian
militants fired two rockets at southern Israel, after Israeli
warplanes attacked "terror sites" overnight inside the Gaza Strip.
   (AFP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Puerto Rico FBI
agent Daniel Knapp (43) drowned after trying to rescue a swimmer in
distress at Hidden Beach in the coastal city of Fajardo.
   (AP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, At midnight Samoa
leaped to Dec 31 to align itself with trading partners in its South
Pacific region. For the country’s 186,000 citizens, Dec 30 will
simply not exist.
   (SFC, 12/29/11, p.A2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Industry sources
said Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco was seeking to buy fuel
in order to donate about 500,000 tons of products to Yemen in
January.
   (Reuters, 12/31/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Somalia a
disgruntled former employee shot at least two international workers
from the aid group Doctors Without Borders at the group's office in
Mogadishu. Philippe Havet (53) from Belgium and Andrias Karel
Keiluhu (44) from Indonesia were killed.
   (AP, 12/29/11)(AP, 12/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Sudanese air raids
killed 17 people in the South Sudan border state of Western Bahr
al-Ghazal, the second day of stepped-up bombing along the northern
frontier.
   (AFP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syrian security
forces opened fire on tens of thousands protesting outside a mosque
in a Damascus suburb, close to a municipal building that members of
the Arab League monitoring mission were visiting. Activists said at
least four people were killed. The British-based Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said a total of 16 people have been shot by
security forces and killed so far today, most of them in several
suburbs of Damascus.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Venezuela a
PDVSA tanker truck filled with gasoline crashed and burst into
flames, engulfing several cars and a bus. 15 people were killed.
   (AP, 12/29/11)(Econ, 2/18/12, p.38)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Yemen fellow
security officers shot and killed one of the protesting officers in
Sanaa. Five others were wounded when forces attempted to clear out a
sit-in by several hundred police at their barracks. The police were
demanding the removal of top Interior Ministry officials whom they
accuse of corruption and ties to Saleh's regime.
   (AP, 12/30/11)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Maine’s same-sex
marriage law went into effect.
   (SSFC, 12/30/12, p.A9)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Maine James Pak
(74) was arrested in the shooting deaths of two tenants inside an
apartment he rented out at his home in Biddefrod, possibly over a
dispute about where they parked their cars during a snowstorm.
   (AP, 12/30/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Manhattan
Morgan Gliedman (27) and her boyfriend, Aaron Greene (31), were
arrested on weapons-possession charges after officers with a search
warrant discovered a plastic container with 7 grams of HMTD, a
highly explosive white powder used in bomb making. Authorities said
they also found papers titled "The Terrorist Encyclopedia" in their
Greenwich Village apartment.
   (AP, 12/31/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Carl Woese (84),
biophysicist and evolutionary microbiologist, died at his home in
Urbana, Ill. His 1977 discovery of a “third domain” of life in the
vast realm of micro-organisms altered scientific understanding of
evolution.
   (http://tinyurl.com/bjkhfhw)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bolivia’s
President Evo Morales nationalized the electricity distribution
subsidiaries of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola in a public
ceremony. Morales also announced the expropriation of an investment
management company and a service provider belonging to the Spanish
energy giant.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Central African
Republic rebels continued their advance, seizing the city of Sibut,
185 km (114 miles) from Bangui.
   (AP, 12/30/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An Egyptian
security official said that thousands of tons of building materials
such as cement and steel are crossing into the Palestinian Gaza
Strip, which had previously been under a strict blockade.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Embattled French
President Francois Hollande suffered a fresh setback when France's
highest court threw out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75
percent rate, saying it was unfair. The court's ruling took issue
not with the size of the tax, but with the way it discriminated
between households depending on how incomes were distributed among
its members.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Indian police
charged six men with murder, adding to accusations that they beat
and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus on Dec 16 in a case that
shocked the country. The victim "passed away peacefully" early today
at Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pakistani
authorities said they are investigating allegations that cough syrup
has killed 33 people over the past three days in the eastern city of
Gujranwala and nearby villages. An explosion ripped through a
passenger bus while it was at a terminal in the southern city of
Karachi, killing six people and wounding 52 others. Gunmen opened
fire on a vehicle carrying police officers in the southwestern city
of Quetta, killing three of them.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Russia a Red
Wings Tu-204 passenger airliner careered off the runway at Vnukovo
Airport, on the outskirts of Moscow, broke into pieces and caught
fire. Four of 8 people died in the crash and a 5th died the next
day.
   (AP, 12/29/12)(AP, 12/30/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southeastern
Yemen 2 gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed intelligence officer
Mutea Baqutian as he on his way to work in Mukalla. Security
officials said 3 al-Qaida militants were killed in a suspected US
drone strike on the outskirts of Radda in Bayda province.
   (AP, 12/29/12)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bangladesh police
barred opposition leader Khaleda Zia from leaving home to lead a
banned march in protest at an upcoming election. Two people were
killed in battles between her supporters and security forces.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Belgian police
seized thousands of marijuana plants discovered by firefighters
during an overnight blaze, but found no immediate trace of the
growers.
   (AFP, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, British police
said they have arrested two men after a suspected arson attack last
evening on the MS King Seaways, a ferry in the North Sea carrying
more than 1,000 people from Newcastle in England to Amsterdam.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Cambodia tens
of thousands of opposition supporters, backed by striking
garment-factory workers, rallied to demand long-serving PM Hun Sen
step down and call an election.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Central African
Republic a medical charity said more than 100,000 people displaced
by inter-religious violence are sheltering at a makeshift camp at
Bangui airport.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Chinese police
seized nearly three metric tons (3.3 tons) of the drug crystal
methamphetamine and arrested 182 people in raids on Boshe village,
Guangdong province, notorious for producing narcotics.
   (Reuters, 1/2/14)(SFC, 1/4/14, p.A2)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egyptian
authorities arrested four Al Jazeera journalists after the Interior
Ministry accused the Qatar-based channel of broadcasting illegally
from a hotel suite with a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
   (AFP, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Egypt a bomb
exploded outside a military intelligence building northeast of
Cairo, wounding four people and damaging the structure as protests
and security scares roil the country just weeks before a key vote.
   (AP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, El Salvador
authorities evacuated an area around the Chaparrastique volcano
after the peak shot a cloud of gas and ash about 3 miles (5 km) into
the air.
   (AP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, French President
Francois Hollande arrived in Saudi Arabia for a visit aimed at
boosting prospects of commercial cooperation between the countries
and addressing escalating tensions in the Middle East.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, France's
Constitutional Council gave the green light on to a 'millionaire's
tax', to be levied on companies that pay salaries of more than 1
million euros ($1.38 million) a year.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Iraq a drive-by
shooting and a bomb killed at least six people.
   (AP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israel's cabinet
approved a Finance Ministry proposal to tighten spending limits on
the government's budget starting in 2015.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Israeli
military fired a barrage of shells into southern Lebanon in
retaliation after five Katyusha-style rockets were launched against
the Jewish state. The attacks struck uninhabited areas of both
Israel and Lebanon without causing any casualties or damage.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Jordan the
criminal court in Amman sentenced two Jordanian men, aged 20 and 23,
to death for killing their sister in June "to cleanse the family’s
honour."
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Lebanon's
President Michel Suleiman said Saudi Arabia is giving the Lebanese
army $3 billion to buy equipment from France, calling it the largest
grant ever given to the country's armed forces.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)(SSFC, 1/5/14, p.A5)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Nigeria
suspected Islamic extremists killed four people in the Christian
Kwajffa village, Borno state.
   (AP, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Gaza Strip's
only power plant returned to life after Israel resumed fuel
deliveries.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Poland Wojciech
Kilar (b.1932), pianist and composer of classical music and scores
for many films, including Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning "The
Pianist" (2002) and Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula"
(1992), died in his hometown of Katowice.
   (AP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern Russia
18 people were killed and scores were wounded as a female suicide
bomber struck at a railway station in Volgograd, heightening concern
about terrorism ahead of February's Olympics in the Black Sea resort
of Sochi.
   (AP, 12/29/13)(Reuters, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, South Sudan's army
fought with "White Army" ethnic militia, accusing rebels of
mobilizing the force despite its offer of a truce to end the
conflict in the new country.
   (Reuters, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In eastern Syria
at least 19 rebels were killed in clashes for control of Deir Ezzor
military air base. The government evacuated some 5,000 people from
an embattled industrial town near Damascus where al-Qaida-linked
rebels have been battling government troops for more than two weeks.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)(AP, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Tanzanian
official said the country has been hit by a sharp upsurge in
poaching, with at least 60 elephants killed in the two months since
the government was forced to halt a controversial crackdown.
   (AFP, 12/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Tunisian police
arrested seven Salafists in the western town of Kasserine, as
authorities feared radical Islamists may be planning attacks during
New Year celebrations.
   (Reuters, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Ukraine some
20,000 people protested in Kiev, maintaining more than a month of
rallies opposing the government's decision to shelve a key deal with
the European Union.
   (AP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Yemen a Sanaa
court sentenced to death Ahmad Kadiri Ahmad Turki, a Yemeni Al-Qaeda
suspect, for his role in a deadly attack on a security headquarters
in Aden in 2011.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United Nations
said that it has completed the first aid airlift from Iraq to Syria,
providing much-needed supplies to a difficult-to-access region of
the war-torn country.
   (AFP, 12/29/13)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US said it has
imposed sanctions on four Russians under a law targeting Russian
human rights violators. They included the prime minister and another
senior official of Russia's Chechen Republic.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US-led
coalition launched 18 air strikes against Islamic State, including
12 in Syria and six in Iraq.
   (Reuters, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Florida a
motion was filed in which a woman, Jane Doe #3, alleges she was
"forced to have sexual relations" with Andrew, the Duke of York, in
London, New York and the Caribbean at the behest of Jeffrey Epstein
from 1999-2002. In 2008 Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison
after pleading guilty to a single Florida state charge of soliciting
prostitution. He remains a registered sex offender.
   (AFP, 1/3/15)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Azerbaijan
President Ilham Aliev signed an amnesty that will free 87 inmates in
the ex-Soviet nation.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Bahrain court
sentenced two Shi'ite Muslim men to death and handed a third a life
sentence after they were convicted of killing a policeman. The three
were among 12 people charged with a bomb attack last February.
   (Reuters, 12/29/14)  Â
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bosnia police
raided the offices of a news portal searching for clues about how
journalists obtained a recording of a phone conversation that said
the governing Bosnian Serb party allegedly bribed two opposition
lawmakers to win their votes in parliament.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Health worker
Pauline Cafferkey (39) became the first person diagnosed with Ebola
on British soil. She had returned a day earlier from Sierra Leone.
   (SSFC, 1/4/15, p.A2)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Cameroon's
government launched its first ever air strikes against Nigerian
Islamic extremists to dislodge about 1,000 fighters who had seized a
Cameroonian military base.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In China a
scaffolding collapse at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University
High School killed 10 construction workers and injured four others.
On Dec 21, 2015, 14 construction managers were sentenced to prison
terms of three to six years for the deadly scaffolding collapse.
   (AP, 12/29/14)(AP, 12/21/15)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Greece called for
a snap general election for Jan 25.
   (AP, 12/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Iraq a suicide
bomber struck a funeral outside the mainly Sunni town of Taji,
killing 16 mourners and wounded 34 others. A day later the Islamic
State group claimed responsibility. A Shiite militia commander was
killed by a sniper's bullet during fighting with Islamic State
militants in the town of Duluiyah.
   (AP, 12/29/14)(AP, 12/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israeli military
forces shot and killed a Palestinian who was throwing stones at
drivers in the West Bank.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Lebanon’s Labor
Ministry said they received a proposal from the National Federation
of Labor Unions to form a syndicate of migrant workers, mostly from
Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, who have fallen victim to
unpaid wages, forced labor, physical and sexual abuse.
   (AP, 1/2/15)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Liberian health
officials reported dozens of new Ebola cases near the border
with Sierra Leone, marking a setback amid recent improvements.
Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County
between December 1 and 25.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In northeast
Nigeria suspected Islamist militants opened fire in a remote town,
killing at least 15 people. The attack targeted Kautikari, near the
Cameroon border.
   (Reuters, 12/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Pakistan a fire
in a shopping mall in Lahore killed at least 13 people.
   (AP, 12/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Russian
currency extended its losses after a report showed the economy has
started shrinking in annual terms for the first time since 2009,
buffeted by falling oil prices and Western sanctions.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Russia new road
safety regulations, signed by PM Dmitry Medvedev, barred
transexuals, transvestites and others with “sexual disorders,” from
driving, ostensibly for medical reasons.
   (SFC, 1/10/15, p.A2)(http://tinyurl.com/pltzas3)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Somalia
Abdishakur (aka Tahliil), a leader of the Somali militant group al
Shabaab, was killed by a US airstrike. He was the head of Amniyat, a
unit blamed for suicide attacks in Mogadishu.
   (Reuters, 12/30/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Spanish police in
the Canary Islands arrested two former members of the Irish
Republican Army and five accomplices during a sweep on an alleged
tobacco and alcohol smuggling racket. Leonard Hardy (53) and his
wife Donna Maria Elizabeth Hardy (48) were both convicted of a 1989
bombing of a British army barracks in Germany. Officials froze
property assets worth more than 5.5 million euros ($6.5 million),
and 90 bank accounts and investment portfolios in Spain.
   (AFP, 1/5/15)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Sweden a fire
ripped through a mosque early today in the second suspected arson
attack on a Muslim center in four days.
   (Reuters, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Thailand two
activists charged with insulting the monarchy because of a play they
produced in 2013 pleaded guilty to the offense, which carries a
punishment of three to 15 years in prison.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ukrainian Pres.
Petro Poroshenko signed a bill dropping his country's nonaligned
status but signaled that he will hold a referendum before seeking
NATO membership.
   (AP, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United Nations
said it had begun delivering food aid to war-torn South Sudan via
the Nile River from Sudan for the first time since it became
independent in 2011.
   (Reuters, 12/29/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern Yemen
a senior intelligence officer was shot dead in al-Bayda by militants
suspected to be linked to al-Qaeda. An army general escaped a
separate ambush in eastern Hadramout province.
   (Reuters, 12/29/14)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United States
and its allies staged 28 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria.
   (Reuters, 12/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Reporters Without
Borders (RSF) said a total of 110 journalists were killed around the
world this year, noting that while many died in war zones the
majority were killed in supposedly peaceful countries.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bahrain said two
of its soldiers attached to a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in
Yemen have been killed in Saudi Arabia.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bahrain handed
down sentences ranging from five years to life in prison to 29
people found guilty of attempting to murder policemen in a bomb
attack last year. The sentences were linked to a bomb blast in a
Shiite village on December 19 last year that authorities said left
three policemen slightly wounded.
   (AFP, 12/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Burkina Faso
Roch Marc Christian Kabore (58) was sworn in as president,
completing a transition from the 2014 overthrow of longtime ruler
Blaise Compaore.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In northern China
Wei Pengyuan, a low-ranking energy official accused of hiding more
than $30 million in cash at home in one of the country's most
sensational corruption cases, admitted his guilt during a court
appearance.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Dagestan one
person was killed and 11 injured in a shooting near the UNESCO
heritage citadel site in Derbent, which claims to be Russia's oldest
city and celebrated its 2,000th anniversary this year.
   (AFP, 12/30/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egypt, Ethiopia,
and Sudan signed an agreement finalizing the two firms tasked with
carrying out studies on the potential impact of Ethiopia's $4.8
billion Grand Renaissance Dam on the flow of the Nile.
   (Reuters, 12/29/15)(Econ, 1/16/16, p.49)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egyptian judicial
officials said a court has reduced the jail term for Islam
al-Behairy, a controversial Muslim scholar convicted of insulting
Islam on his television show from five years to one.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In England and
Wales a law became effective that said coercive or controlling
behavior can now be prosecuted as a crime punishable by a fine and
up to five years in prison.
   (SFC, 12/30/15, p.A5)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A German court
sentenced former Rwandan mayor Onesphore Rwabukombe (58) to life in
prison, convicting him after a second trial of participating in
genocide for helping organize the killing of some 400 members of the
Tutsi minority in 1994.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Georgian lawmakers
approved former foreign minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili as the new
head of government after the surprise resignation of Irakli
Garibashvili.
   (SFC, 12/31/15, p.A3)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Haiti 2 UN
police officers from Rwanda were fatally shot at their residence in
Cap Haitien.
   (AP, 12/31/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israel's top court
upheld a bribery conviction against former premier Ehud Olmert,
which will make him the country's first ex-prime minister to serve
jail time. The Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 18 months in
prison, and acquitted him of one of the charges.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In northwestern
Pakistan a suicide bomber attacked a government office, killing at
least 26 people and wounding 45 in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province. A Pakistani Taliban faction claimed responsibility.
   (Reuters, 12/29/15)(SFC, 12/30/15, p.A4)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russian
investigators filed an indictment against four men accused of
involvement in the Feb 27 murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov,
a brazen killing which sent shockwaves among the opposition earlier
this year.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Saudi Arabia
Filipino murder convict Joselito Lidasan Zapanta was publicly
beheaded after failing to meet the demand of the Sudanese victim's
family for payment of $1 million to save him from the death penalty.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Thailand suspected Muslim insurgents attacked police and a
government office, killing one official as they seized hostages in
Narathiwat province.
   (Reuters, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the leader of the main Kurdish party
Selahattin Demirtas (42) of "treason" over his call for autonomy for
the country's Kurdish minority.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Turkey a former
soccer referee won a court case against Turkey's football federation
which he has accused of outing him as a homosexual and stripping him
of his license to referee games because of his sexual orientation.
The court ordered the federation to pay Halil Ibrahim Dincdag 23,000
lira (US$8,000) in compensation.
   (AP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Uganda police said
at least 13 people drowned in Lake Victoria, when sudden waves
swamped them as they celebrated the Christmas holiday.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The UN's health
agency declared Guinea's Ebola outbreak over two years after it
emerged.
   (AFP, 12/29/15)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pres. Obama
sanctioned Russian intelligence services and their top officials,
kicked out 35 Russian officials and shuttered two Russian-owned
compounds in the US in response to Russian election hacking.
   (SFC, 12/30/16, p.A1)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Michael Flynn, the
national security advisor to US Pres.-elect Donald Trump, spoke on
the phone in Washington to Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Flynn
later denied having discussed the new US sanctions against Russia,
but it turned out that he did. On Feb 13, 2017, Pres. Donald Trump
removed Flynn as national security advisor.
   (Econ, 2/18/17, p.10, 21)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Ohio a small
plane carrying six people vanished over Lake Erie. The plane was
piloted by John T. Fleming, the executive chief of a Columbus-based
beverage company.
   (SFC, 12/31/16, p.A7)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Albania's Central
Election Commission canceled the mandates of two members of
Parliament and a mayor because of their criminal records.
Prosecutors said Dashamir Tahiri of the main opposition Democratic
Party, Shkelqim Selami of the Socialist Movement for Integration,
and of Kavaja Mayor Elvis Roshi had convictions in Italy and
Switzerland for crimes that included money laundering, drug
distribution and human trafficking.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, At least three
soldiers were reported killed in a border skirmish between Armenian
and Azerbaijani troops.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bangladesh said
some 50,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to its territory from
Myanmar, seeking shelter from a bloody crackdown by the army.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Prosecutors in
Bosnia charged Dragan Vikic, the commander of special police units
in Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege of the city by Bosnian Serb
forces, along with three other former officers, with war crimes over
the execution of eight captured enemy combatants.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egypt's Cabinet
approved the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia despite
protests earlier this year and a court ruling the transfer
unconstitutional.
   (AP, 12/30/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Finnish court
sentenced Jari Aarnio (59), the former chief detective of the
Helsinki police drug squad, to ten years in prison for taking part
in a drug smuggling ring. He reportedly played a key role in helping
a gang smuggle nearly 800 kg (1,750 pounds) of hashish from the
Netherlands into Finland in 2011 and 2012.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Gambia's president
ordered the electoral commission building taken over by police on
December 13 to reopen, saying it had been shut for safety reasons.
Gambia is facing prolonged political deadlock as Pres. Jammeh has
said he will await a Supreme Court ruling, delayed until January 10,
before ceding power.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In eastern India a
coal mine collapse killed at least 10 workers and 13 others may be
trapped by the mound of fallen earth at the Rajmahal Open Cast Mines
in Jharkhand state. By Dec 31 the bodies of 16 of 23 trapped workers
were recovered.
   (AP, 12/30/16)(AP, 12/31/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iraqi security
forces began the second phase of their offensive against Islamic
State militants in Mosul, pushing from three directions into eastern
districts where the battle has been deadlocked for nearly a month.
   (Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israeli media
reported that the attorney general Avichai Mandelblit has decided to
order a criminal probe against PM Benjamin Netanyahu and he is to
soon be questioned by police.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Kosovo's
Parliament voted to demolish a concrete wall erected by the Serb
ethnic minority in the northern city of Mitrovica that the
government sees as a statement of defiance.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In a video posted
on YouTube, Nigeria’s Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced:
"I am here, well and alive" and that "the battle is just beginning."
He urged his followers, in graphic terms, to continue the campaign.
   (AP, 12/31/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Polish court
handed prison sentences to a businessman and two waiters convicted
in the illegal wiretapping of top Polish politicians in expensive
Warsaw restaurants.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Puerto Rico said
it has been awarded more than $2 million in US federal funds to
fight Zika across mountain communities in the territory's interior.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russia's security
agencies said they have arrested seven people in Dagestan suspected
of preparing New Year's terror attacks in Moscow on orders from the
Islamic State group in Syria. One police officer and two suspected
militants were killed in a shootout outside the city of Khasavyurt,
Dagestan.
   (AP, 12/29/16)(AP, 12/30/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Serbia signed a
deal to buy nine light choppers from Airbus Helicopters amid
tensions in the region triggered by Russia's donation of jet
fighters to the Balkan state.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Spain Madrid's
town hall said smog levels have dropped enough to allow the city to
end unprecedented restrictions it had announced on vehicle
circulation.
   (AP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syria's army and
key ally Russia announced a nationwide ceasefire to take effect at
midnight, in a major potential breakthrough after nearly six years
of civil war. The ceasefire did not include Islamic State or the
Kurdish YPG militia.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)(Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syrian Kurdish
groups and their allies said they have approved a blueprint for a
system of federal government in northern Syria, reaffirming their
plans for autonomy in areas they have controlled during the civil
war.
   (Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Thailand's
military government granted the king power to appoint the Buddhist
country's top monk, a move aimed at resolving a bitter power
struggle over the venerated post.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Tunisian security
forces said that they had broken up an al Qaeda-linked militant cell
with 10 members that was active near the coastal city of Sousse.
   (Reuters, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An Istanbul court
ordered the release of Asli Erdogan, one of Turkey's most celebrated
novelists after over four months in jail on charges of terror
propaganda, along with Necmiye Alpay, an internationally prominent
linguist and author of widely praised translations of Western novels
into Turkish. She has been held behind bars for 120 days. Zana Kaya,
editorial director of the pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem was
also ordered released. Authorities detained prize-winning journalist
Ahmet Sik in a separate case over a succession of tweets and
articles for an opposition daily.
   (AFP, 12/29/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Venezuela’s Pres.
Maduro again extended the deadline to stop using 100-bolivar bills.
People will now have until Jan 20 to stop using the old bills.
   (SSFC, 1/1/17, p.A5)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
California a man walked into a law firm in Long Beach where he
worked and shot two men before turning the gun on himself. On victim
drove himself to a hospital. Police arrived to find the gunman and
the other victim dead.
   (SFC, 12/30/17, p.A7)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Architect John
Portman (b.1924) died in Atlanta. He had revolutionized hotel
designs with soaring futuristic atriums. His work included the
Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, the Peachtree Center in Atlanta
and the Renaissance Center in Detroit. His work also transformed
Asian skylines from Shanghai to Mumbai.
   (SSFC, 12/31/17, p.C9)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Ohio Ming Ming
Chen (30), accused of killing her 5-year-old daughter, was sentenced
to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary
manslaughter and other charges. Ashley Zhao’s body was found hidden
in the family's North Canton restaurant after the child was reported
missing last January.
   (AP, 12/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Brazil's official
government gazette said the government has issued a decree
backtracking on plans to weaken the definition of slave labor in
response to criticism and a court suspension of the original edict.
The original mid-October decree, backed by Brazil's powerful farm
lobby, narrowed the definition of slave labor to limiting the
ability of workers to move freely while disregarding other abuses.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, British police
arrested a fifth man (21) suspected in plotting an extremist attack.
Four other men were arrested in the Sheffield area on Dec. 19.
   (AFP, 12/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, British Airways
owner IAG announced it will snap up bankrupt Austrian airline Niki,
outlining plans to keep on hundreds of the carrier's staff.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Cambodian court
ordered exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to pay $1 million for
defaming PM Hun Sen in a Facebook post.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China denied
reports it had been illicitly selling oil products to North Korea in
violation of UN sanctions, after US President Donald Trump said he
was not happy that China had allowed oil to reach the isolated
nation.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Egypt at least
10 people, including eight Coptic Christians, were killed in a
shootout outside a church and at a nearby store owned by a Christian
in the Cairo suburb of Mar Mina. The assailant and at least one
policemen were among the dead.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Germany's
constitutional court ruled that Oskar Groening (96) must go to jail
over his role in mass murders committed at the Nazi death camp at
Auschwitz during World War Two, refusing to overturn a lower court
ruling.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An association
representing Hong Kong barristers said it was "appalled" by the
Chinese parliament's move to enforce mainland laws inside a Hong
Kong railway station, denouncing it as the most retrograde step
since the 1997 handover.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In India a fire
engulfed an upscale rooftop restaurant in Mumbai, killing 15 people
and sending others fleeing for their lives.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iranians
protesting the country's strained economy gathered in Tehran and the
western city of Kermanshah, for the second day of spontaneous,
unsanctioned demonstrations placing pressure on President Hassan
Rouhani's government.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Israel’s military
retaliated to rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip with strikes on
posts used by the Islamic militant group Hamas that rules the
territory. The exchange caused no casualties on either side.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Mexico a masked
gunman assassinated Arturo Gomez Perez, the mayor of the town of
Petatlan, Guerrero state. Separately a US citizen was shot and
killed in the Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero state.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern Mexico
five people visiting from the United States were among 10 people
killed in a car crash and fire late today near the tourist hot spot
of Acapulco, Guerrero state.
   (Reuters, 12/30/17)(AP, 12/31/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Thousands of
Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank
for the fourth Friday in a row in protests against US President
Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Myanmar released
two journalists and their two local staff from prison, two months
after their Oct. 27 arrest for allegedly flying a drone over the
parliament.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Pakistani
official said 145 Indian fishermen have been handed over to Indian
authorities at a border crossing near the eastern city of Lahore.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Pakistan's supreme
court exonerated Mohammad Mansha (58), convicted of blasphemy, after
he served nine years of a life sentence in prison. Mansha was
arrested in September 2008 after the imam of a mosque in the
Bahawalnagar district in Punjab province told authorities that
Mansha had desecrated a copy of the Quran.
   (AP, 12/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Puerto Rico
authorities said that nearly half of power customers in the US
territory still lacked electricity more than three months after
Hurricane Maria.
   (SFC, 12/30/17, p.A10)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Moscow court
sentenced William Browder, the financier who has advocated for a US
law targeting Russian officials over human rights abuses, to nine
years in prison in absentia over tax evasion and funneling money
overseas. The Tverskoy District Court also sentenced Browder's
associate Ivan Cherkasov to eight years in prison for avoiding taxes
and illegally funneling funds overseas.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Serbia’s
government said police and the state security agency have uncovered
a massive stockpile of toxic waste and arrested the owner of the
company that illegally stored it in the Obrenovac municipality.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, South Africa's
Constitutional Court ruled that parliament had failed to hold
President Jacob Zuma to account over a scandal related to
state-funded upgrades to his home, and must launch proceedings that
could remove him from office.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)  Â
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, South Korea said
that it was holding a Hong Kong-flagged ship and its crew members
for allegedly violating UN sanctions by transferring oil to a North
Korean vessel on October 19.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Syria intense
fighting over the last 24 hours killed 66 people on the edge of
Idlib, the last province entirely outside government control, as aid
workers completed a series of medical evacuations from another
rebel-held area.
   (AFP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Syria more than
400 patients on a UN list waiting for evacuations from a siege of
the eastern Ghouta suburbs were left behind as the Red Cross said it
had finished transferring just 29 people and their families to
Damascus for medical care.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Syria's state news
agency SANA said some 300 al-Qaida-linked militants and their
families would be sent to Daraa and Idlib province.
   (AP, 12/30/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Taiwanese
President Tsai Ing-wen pledged to step up military spending to
defend the self-ruled island's sovereignty in the face of China's
growing assertiveness in the region.
   (AP, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkey and Russia
signed an accord for Moscow to supply Ankara with S-400
surface-to-air missile batteries, finalizing a deal set to deepen
military ties between NATO member Turkey and the Kremlin.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkish police
detained 75 suspected Islamic State members in two operations, after
arresting about 120 such suspects across Turkey a day earlier,
tightening security ahead of the New Year.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkish media
outlets reported that authorities have begun freeing some suspects
arrested for involvement in a coup attempt after they found that
thousands had been unwittingly re-directed to a messaging app used
by the plotters.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Ukraine lawyer
Iryna Nozdrovska went missing. Her body was found in a river on Jan.
1. She had mounted a campaign to make sure the man convicted of
running down her sister with his car remained in prison. The man is
a relative of a prominent Kiev judge.
   (AP, 1/2/18)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that doctors across Yemen have recorded at least 380 cases of
diphtheria over the last four months, a bacterial disease that last
appeared here in 1992.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Zambian President
Edgar Lungu directed the military to help fight the spread of
cholera, which has killed 41 people in the nation's capital and made
more than 1,500 others sick since late September.
   (Reuters, 12/29/17)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The United States
detained Russian citizen Dmitry Makarenko (b.1979) on the Northern
Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean. He was soon
transferred to Florida. Makarenko was accused in June 2017 by
federal prosecutors of conspiring with another man, Vladimir
Nevidomy, to export defense articles including night-vision scopes
from the United States to Russia without US approval. Court papers
showed Nevidomy pleaded guilty in the case in June 2018 and was
sentenced to 26 months in prison with three years of supervised
release.
   (Reuters, 1/5/19)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Arizona an
incapacitated woman (29) with significant intellectual disabilities
at the Hacienda Health-Care facility gave birth following a sexual
assault. Nathan Sutherland, a nurse whose DNA police said matches a
sample from the baby, later pleaded not guilty to charges of rape.
   (SFC, 1/14/19, p.A4)(SFC, 1/21/19, p.A4)(SSFC,
2/10/19, p.A8)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Missouri police
in St. Louis identified Richard Darren Emery (46) as the shooter in
the overnight killing of his girlfriend (39), her two children and
her mother.
   (SSFC, 12/30/18, p.A9)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Nevada a woman
skipped out on a $35 manicure and used a stolen car to run over and
kill manicurist Ngoc Nguyen (51) in Las Vegas. Krystal Whipple (21)
was arrested on Jan. 11, 2019, in Glendale, Arizona, by a team of
fugitive hunters. In 2020 Whipple pleaded guilty and faced up to 25
years in prison.
   (SFC, 1/12/19, p.A6)(SFC, 12/8/20, p.A5)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Australia said it
stripped Neil Prakash, a suspected militant held in Turkey, of
citizenship because he fought for the Islamic State group. He became
the 12th person to be stripped of Australian citizenship because of
militant links, based on a 2007 law.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Brazil's far-right
President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said he plans to issue a decree
allowing all Brazilians without criminal records to own firearms,
welcome news to many core supporters who want him to loosen Brazil's
strict gun laws.
   (Reuters, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Chinese court
ordered a retrial of a Canadian citizen on drug smuggling charges
after prosecutors said his sentence of 15 years was too light.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg had lodged an appeal after being handed a
15 year sentence on Nov. 20 in the northeastern city of Dalian.
   (Reuters, 12/29/18)
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Colombian Foreign
Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said in a video message that there
was intelligence indicating "credible" plans to target the
right-wing Pres. Ivan Duque, who took office in August. He said
three Venezuelans were arrested in recent days with "weapons of
war".
   (Reuters, 12/30/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Egypt's Interior
Ministry said security forces have killed 40 suspected militants in
three separate incidents in North Sinai and Giza.
   (Reuters, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In France yellow
vest protesters marched on the headquarters of leading broadcasters,
as small groups turned out in Paris and around the country despite
waning momentum for their movement. Police fired tear gas at the
demonstrators in Paris.
   (AP, 12/29/18)(AFP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In India a police
officer was stoned to death during violent protests in Ghazipur,
Uttar Pradesh state.
   (Reuters, 12/30/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Italy the city
officials of Venice passed a budget bill that will allow charging
all visitors to the city a new tax to help cover the costs of
keeping the tourist-thronged historic city clean and safe.
   (AFP, 12/31/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Israel
Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet
Shaked announced that they are forming a new party to run in April
elections, hoping to present a hard-line alternative to PM Benjamin
Netanyahu's Likud Party.
   (AP, 12/30/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Kashmir
anti-India protests and clashes erupted after a gunbattle between
militants and government forces killed four rebels in the Pulwama
area.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Lebanon's finance
minister said the heavily indebted country is in a state of economic
crisis and warned it faces becoming a financial crisis, as
politicians struggle to form a new government.
   (Reuters, 12/30/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Madagascar some
two thousand opposition supporters took to the streets in
Antananarivo to protest against the victory of ex-president Andry
Rajoelina in last week's elections.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Mexican
military assumed control of policing in three municipalities of the
central state of Morelos (Cuernavaca, Jiutepec and Yautepec), and
conducted a review of their firearms, munitions, personnel and
equipment.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Dutch police on
horseback broke up a "Yellow Vest" protest in The Hague and arrested
eight people after the demonstration turned violent.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In the southern
Philippines a magnitude 7.2 undersea earthquake struck off Davao
Oriental province, prompting people to scramble out of shopping
malls and buildings and authorities to warn villagers to stay away
from beaches in case of a tsunami. The death toll from the storm
eventually rose to 126. Authorities said landslides caused by
torrential rain were the top cause.
   (AP, 12/29/18)(AFP, 1/6/19)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Serbia
thousands of people protested for a fourth consecutive week over
what they say has been a stifling of democratic freedoms under
President Aleksandar Vucic.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29 South Africa
arrested Manuel Chang, the former Mozambican finance minister, at
the Johannesburg airport. A US indictment alleged that Chang and
others violated US anti-corruption laws in a $2 billion loan scandal
that plunged Mozambique into financial crisis.
   (AP, 1/9/19)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Thailand violence presumed to have been carried out by Muslim
separatists continued for the fourth day in a row, with three
paramilitary soldiers wounded and a female civilian shot dead in
Pattani province.
   (AP, 12/29/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Yemen's Houthi
forces said they have started to redeploy overnight from the port of
the Red Sea city of Hodeidah as part of a UN-sponsored peace
agreement signed in Sweden earlier this month. The government denied
this, saying it was a ploy by the rebels to maintain control. Under
the deal, international monitors are to be deployed in Hodeidah and
a Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC) including both sides,
chaired by Cammaert, will oversee implementation.
   (Reuters, 12/29/18)(AP, 12/30/18)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US air strikes
against Kataeb Hezbollah, a pro-Iran group in Iraq, killed at least
25 fighters late today at bases near Al-Qaim, triggering anger in a
country caught up in mounting tensions between Tehran and
Washington. The attacks hit three locations in Iraq and two in
neighboring Syria. The following day an Iranian-backed militia vowed
to exact revenge.
   (AP, 12/30/19)(SFC, 12/30/19, p.A2)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, US Congressman
John Lewis of Georgia announced that he has stage IV pancreatic
cancer, vowing he will stay in office and fight the disease.
   (AP, 12/30/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Texas Keith
Thomas Kinnunen (43)Â pulled out a shotgun at a church service
and fired on worshippers at West Freeway Church of Christ in White
Settlement, killing two people before he was shot to death by
congregants who fired back. Church members Richard White and Anton
“Tony” Wallace were killed. Kinnunen was fatally shot by Jack
Wilson, a member of the church's volunteer security team, within
seconds of the attack.
   (AP, 12/29/19)(AP, 12/31/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools, one of the largest
school districts in the US, will allow students, in 7th through 12th
grades, one excused absence beginning Jan. 27, 2020, for "civic
engagement activities." Two days notice will be required plus
written parental or guardian permission.
   (SSFC, 12/29/19, p.A9)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that there have been 41 mass killings in the US this year, the
highest number dating back to at least the 1970s. Mass killings were
defined as four or more people killed excluding the perpetrator.
   (SSFC, 12/29/19, p.A9)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Taliban leaders
agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Afghanistan, providing an opening
for a peace deal with the US The Taliban ruling council did not
immediately set a date for the start of the ceasefire.
   (AP, 12/30/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Guinea-Bissau held
elections. two former prime ministers vied for the presidency in the
runoff election after the incumbent failed to reach the second round
in the tumultuous West African country once described by the United
Nations as a narco-state. Domingos Simoes Pereira faced Umaro
Sissoco Embalo.
   (AP, 12/29/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Israeli
Security Cabinet voted to withhold $43 million of tax funds from the
Palestinians, saying the money has been used to promote violence.
   (AP, 12/30/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Israeli
government appointed Yaacov Litzman as health minister, sparking a
litany of condemnations from Australia's staunchly pro-Israel Jewish
community. Litzman is suspected of aiding an alleged sexual abuser
wanted in Australia.
   (AP, 12/30/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Saudi state media
reported that a court has ruled that a Yemeni man (33) be executed
for attacking and wounding dancers and a security guard during a
performance on stage at a park in Riyadh. A second suspect, who also
was not identified, was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for aiding
and abetting the attacker and sending money to al-Qaida in Yemen.
   (AP, 12/29/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In northwestern
Syria a teacher and four students were killed in government shelling
of the village of Sarmin.
   (AP, 1/1/20)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkey's defense
chief said that his country's troops won't evacuate their 12
observation posts in rebel-held northwestern Syria., even as a
Syrian government offensive pushed deeper into Idlib province, the
last remaining opposition stronghold.
   (AP, 12/29/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ukraine and two
breakaway regions supported by the Kremlin exchanged prisoners under
an agreement reached with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier
this month as the former allies seek an end to more than five years
of war in the Donbas area. Ukraine received 76 captives from the
Russian-backed rebels. Ukraine returned 127 captives to the
self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics.
   (AP, 12/29/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Yemen a
ballistic missile ripped through a military parade for a southern
separatist group that's backed by the United Arab Emirates, killing
at least six troops and four children. Houthi rebels were blamed for
the attack.
   (AP, 12/29/19)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President Donald
Trump's campaign asked the US Supreme Court to take its failed
lawsuit challenging election results in swing state Wisconsin. Trump
lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A US federal
appeals court ruled that immigrant children caught crossing the
border must be released to relatives or adult sponsors in the US as
soon as possible under a 1997 legal setlement.
   (SFC, 12/30/20, p.B1)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Researchers in the
US found a more contagious virus variant, first discovered in
Britain, in a Colorado man who had not visited that country.
   (NY Times, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US Justice
Department said two Cleveland police officers will avoid federal
criminal charges over their role in the 2014 killing of Tamir Rice,
a 12-year-old Black boy, citing a lack of evidence.
   (NY Times, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that drug traffickers have paid millions of dollars to US border
agents to keep drugs and people flowing throughout Trump's time in
office.
   (Business Insider, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, American troops
stationed in South Korea received the first doses of coronavirus
vaccine to be administered in the country.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that Alabama, long one of the unhealthiest and most impoverished
states in America, has emerged as one of the nation's most alarming
coronavirus hot spots. The coronavirus has killed over 4,700 in the
state.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020 Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, California to
date had 2,208,052 cases of coronavirus and 24,568 deaths. The SF
Bay Area had 256,125 cases and 2,465 deaths. Total cases nationwide
reached over 19,532,025 with the death toll at
335,623.  Â
   (sfist.com, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Joe Louis Clark
(82), the baseball bat and bullhorn-wielding principal, died at his
Florida home after a long battle with an unspecified illness. His
unwavering commitment to his students and uncompromising
disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me”.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A federal judge
ordered local election officials in Georgia to allow voting by more
than 4,000 people whose eligibility was being challenged ahead of
next week’s runoff elections for the US Senate.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Louisville’s
police department said it will fire two officers involved in the
raid that killed Breonna Taylor: Detective Myles Cosgrove, who fired
the fatal shot, and Detective Joshua Jaynes, who arranged the raid.
   (NY Times, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Luke Letlow ()41),
a Republican congressman-elect from Louisiana, died of complications
from Covid. He had been set to take office on Jan 3.
   (AP, 12/30/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In Massachusetts
workers removed a statue of Abraham Lincoln with a freed slave
appearing to kneel at his feet, optics that drew objections amid a
national reckoning with racial injustice, from its perch in downtown
Boston, where it had stood since 1879.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Phyllis McGuire
(89), the last surviving member of the three singing McGuire
Sisters, died in Las Vegas. The McGuire Sisters earned six gold
records for hits including 1954's "Sincerely" and 1957's
"Sugartime."
   (AP, 1/1/21)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, New York City
reported 447 homicides this year, the most since 2011.
   (NY Times, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The 2nd US Circuit
Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled in the case of Dr. Chi Ping
Patrick Ho (70), a prominent Hong Kong businessman, finding he was
properly convicted by a jury in December 2018 of paying bribes to
the presidents of Chad and Uganda.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Boeing's 737 MAX
resumed passenger flights in the United States for the first time
after a 20-month safety ban was lifted last month.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Boston Dynamics
released a video showing four of its robots dancing to the 1962 hit
“Do You Love Me?” by The Contours, and it caught fire online.
   (AP, 12/30/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Nielsen data
reported that ratings for Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel topped
all news and basic cable channels for a fifth straight year in 2020.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Reporters Without
Borders said at least 50 journalists were killed this year, most of
whom were deliberately targeted. The press freedom group counted 53
dead in 2019.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Algerian state TV
reported that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (75) has returned home
after receiving coronavirus treatment in Germany for two months.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bangladesh moved a
second group of about 1,800 Rohingya from cramped refugee camps on
the mainland to the low-lying island of Bhasan Char, despite
opposition from rights groups.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Belarus said it
has begun administering the Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus
vaccine, after the first consignment arrived in Minsk. Belarus
expects to vaccinate around 200,000 people with Sputnik V in the
first stage of its national program.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Brazilian health
regulator Anvisa said Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine has
requested regulatory approval to launch Phase 3 trials in Brazil.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Britain and Turkey
signed a free-trade agreement, effective Jan. 1, as the UK prepares
to leave the European Union's economic orbit at the start of the new
year.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, China's banking
and insurance regulator urged consumers to guard against excessive
borrowing spurred by internet platforms, hiding the real costs of
such debt.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Mainland China
reported 24 new COVID-19 cases, down from 27 cases a day earlier.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A magnitude 6.3
earthquake hit central Croatia, destroying buildings and sending
panicked people fleeing into rubble-covered streets in a town
southeast of the capital. Authorities said five people were killed
and at least 20 were injured.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Denmark reported
2,621 new cases over the past 24 hours. The government said it will
extend a hard lockdown for two weeks until Jan. 17 to limit the
spread of COVID-19.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An Egyptian court
convicted Ahmed Bassam Zaki, a former student at the American
University in Cairo, of sexual misconduct charges and sentenced him
to three years in prison, the first conviction in a case that has
fueled the #MeToo movement in the Arab world’s most populous
country. Zaki was being tried separately in criminal court on
charges of rape and attempted rape of three other women who were
minors at the time of the alleged crimes.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The European Union
said it will buy an extra 100 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s
COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the total from the two firms to 300
million doses.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, French couturier
Pierre Cardin (98) died. He made his name by selling designer
clothes to the masses, and his fortune by being the first to exploit
that name as a brand for selling everything from cars to perfume.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Claude Bolling
(90), French pianist, composer and arranger, died in Garches. He
attained a worldwide following through his melodic blend of jazz and
classical influences and stayed on the Billboard classical charts
for more than a decade with his 1975 album “Suite for Flute and Jazz
Piano”.
   (AP, 1/1/21)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Biotech firm GNA
Biosolutions said it has received emergency use approval from
German's health authority for its quick COVID-19 test that it says
is as reliable as widely-used PCR tests but delivers results almost
as quickly as an antigen one.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iran said it will
resume normal gas flows to Iraq on Dec. 30 after reaching an
agreement with Iraq over unpaid bills.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Iran-based Shifa
Pharmed, part of a state-owned pharmaceutical conglomerate known as
Barekat, began its first study of the safety and effectiveness of a
coronavirus vaccine.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ireland began its
COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Ireland expected to vaccinate all
75,000 people who live or work in nursing homes and tens of
thousands of other health workers by the end of February.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Dozens of Cubans
protested at the US border in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad
Juarez late today, demanding they be allowed to cross and claim
asylum in the US.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Montenegro's new,
pro-Serb authorities amended a law on religious rights and property
that was passed by a previous government but was strongly opposed by
the Serbian Orthodox Church, which led months of protests against
the bill. The changes abolished the sections on ownership that the
Serbian church insisted were designed to strip it of its property in
Montenegro despite repeated denials by the previous government.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Oman reopened its
land, air and sea borders after a one-week shutdown over the new
coronavirus variant that emerged in Britain. On Jan 5, 2020, Oman
said it has registered its first case of the highly contagious
variant.
   (AP, 1/5/21)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, President Klaus
Iohannis said Romania would donate 200,000 doses of the
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to Moldova, offered as a gesture of
solidarity following the election of the pro-Western President Maia
Sandu.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Investigative
Committee, Russia's main investigative agency, said it has opened a
new criminal case against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on charges
of large-scale fraud related to his alleged mishandling of some $5
million in private donations to his Anti-Corruption Foundation and
other organizations.
   (AP, 12/30/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A court in Moscow
convicted Karina Tsurkan, a former top executive of Inter RAO, a
Russian state-controlled energy company, of spying for the ex-Soviet
nation of Moldova and sentenced her to 15 years in prison. Tsurkan
has denied the accusations.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russian riot
police stormed into a monastery to detain rebel monk Father Sergiy
at the Sredneuralsk monastery outside Yekaterinburg, who has
castigated the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church leadership
and denied the existence of the coronavirus.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russia said it had
dismantled an international drug smuggling network as part of a
collaborative operation with the United States. The mission elapsed
in several stages beginning in May this year in Saint Petersburg and
concluded with the discovery of a cache in the Moscow region last
month.
   (The Telegraph, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Moscow said it
will extend the school holiday by one week until Jan. 17 in hopes of
stabilizing the situation regarding new coronavirus infections and
avoid new COVID-19-related restrictions.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, South Korean
authorities scrambled to contain a cluster of coronavirus infections
in a Seoul prison as inmates waved signs through barred windows
pleading for help. South Korea recorded 1,050 new cases nationally
as of midnight, bringing the total case tally to 59,773 and death
toll to 879.
   (Reuters, 12/30/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkish
prosecutors issued a detention warrant against Sezgin Baran Korkmaz,
a Turkish businessman with links to Utah-based business executives
who have pleaded guilty to a $511 million tax credit scheme in the
United States.
   (AP, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Turkey aims to
produce Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine domestically but has
asked for more information about it before inoculating its citizens.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that the UAE has emerged as hub for companies helping Venezuela
avoid US oil sanctions.
   (Reuters, 12/29/20)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that the Pentagon is building a second courtroom for war crimes
trials at Guantánamo Bay that will exclude the public from the
chamber, the latest move toward secrecy in the nearly 20-year-old
detention operation.
   (NY Times, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The US Securities
and Exchange Commission charged Medallion Financial Corp and its
president with fraud for trying to inflate the stock price of the
lender to taxicab medallion buyers, amid competition from Uber and
Lyft.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021 Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Total US COVID-19
cases reached over 53,217,506 with the death toll at 821,346. New US
cases topped 488,000.
   (sfist.com, 12/30/21)(SFC, 12/30/21, p.A5)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An acting regional
director of the US National Labor Relations Board alleged that the
NY Times. Co. wrongly interfered with, restrained and coerced
employees exercising their rights under federal labor law.
   (Reuters, 1/5/22)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, A Manhattan jury
convicted Ghislaine Maxwell, the former companion to the disgraced
financier Jeffrey Epstein, of conspiring with him for at least a
decade to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls.
   (NY Times, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In southern
Argentina a helicopter that was fighting forest fires in the rugged
Patagonia region crashed, killing two crew members.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Belgian
government reversed course by allowing theaters to reopen after a
court suspended their closure ordered a week ago to try to stem the
surge in infections from the Omicron coronavirus variant.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Bolivia's main
cities canceled any public activities for New year's Eve after the
country reached a record 4,939 new cases of the coronavirus. A bit
more than 39% of the population was fully vaccinated.
   (SFC, 12/30/21, p.A5)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, British PM Boris
Johnson warned that the overwhelming majority of patients ending up
in intensive care with COVID-19 had not received their booster
vaccine, as he urged people to get their jabs. Patients with
COVID-19 occupied 10,462 beds in English hospitals, up by 916 on the
day before. Britain reported 183,037 COVID-19 cases, a new record
and over 53,000 more than the previous highest figure registered
just a day earlier.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that Cuba will give booster shots to its entire population in
January, in a bid to keep the highly contagious Omicron variant of
the coronavirus at bay.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Ethiopian
lawmakers approved a bill to establish a commission for national
dialogue, amid international pressure for negotiations to end the
13-month conflict in the Tigray region.
   (AP, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, France was seeing
a "tsunami" of COVID-19 infections, with 208,000 cases reported over
the past 24 hours, a new national and European record.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Germany’s health
minister said that the country's coronavirus infection rate is
likely two to three times higher than statistics currently show, and
urged his compatriots to be cautious during New Year's celebrations.
   (AP, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Hundreds of Hong
Kong police officers arrested seven people connected to an outspoken
pro-democracy news website and raided the site’s headquarters, in
yet another government crackdown on the city’s once-vibrant
independent press. Pro-democracy media outlet Stand News said it
would shut down after police raided its office earlier in the day
and arrested senior staff on suspected "seditious publication"
offences.
   (NY Times, 12/29/21)(Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that Indian tax officials have seized more than $30 million in cash
and gold in raids on suspected tax evaders this week including a
record haul of 1.94 billion rupees ($26 million) and 23 kg of gold
ahead of assembly elections in five states.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Apple said it had
placed the southern Indian factory of iPhone assembler Foxconn on
probation after both companies found that some worker dormitories
and dining rooms did not meet required standards.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Indonesia said it
will allow a boat packed with Rohingya which had become stranded off
its coast to dock in the Southeast Asian country, after calls from
aid organizations to allow the vessel to seek refuge.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, An Israeli was
wounded in a shooting attack on the Gaza border, after a rare visit
to Israel by Palestinian Pres. Mahmoud Abbas drew condemnation from
the enclave's Hamas rulers. Three Palestinian farmers were reported
wounded.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, It was reported
that Israel was acting to contain a severe outbreak of avian flu
that has already led to mass culling of infected poultry and has
caused the deaths of about 5,000 migratory cranes in a popular
nature reserve in the north of the country.
   (NY Times, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Italy reported
98,030 against 78,313 a day earlier. Restaurant and club owners
sought urgent government support due to increased cancellations
prompted by a surge in coronavirus infections.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Libya’s top
prosecutor ordered the country's culture minister jailed pending an
investigation into allegations of corruption. Minister Mabrouka
Othman would be jailed for four days pending the investigations into
alleged managerial and financial irregularities and forgery.
   (AP, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, PM Ismail Sabri
Yaakob said Malaysia will provide 1.4 billion ringgit ($334.93
million) in cash aid and other forms of relief for those devastated
by severe floods this month.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In western Mali
four soldiers were killed and a dozen more seriously injured when
their patrol was ambushed by suspected militants near the town of
Nara.
   (Reuters, 12/30/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Poland reported
794 COVID-related deaths, the highest number in the fourth wave of
the pandemic, a deputy health minister said, adding the figure could
be a result of delayed reporting due to the Christmas holidays.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Portugal reported
a new record of 26,867 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, up
sharply from 17,172 the previous day, although daily deaths dropped
to a fraction of early 2021 peaks.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Russian President
Vladimir Putin said that a new pipeline to Germany has been fully
filled with natural gas, noting that it could help quickly reduce
soaring European energy prices.
   (AP, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Authorities in
Sudan's North Darfur state announced a night curfew after armed
groups looted a UN World Food Program warehouse and facilities used
by a former peacekeeping mission.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Switzerland
reported a record high of 17,634 new COVID-19 infections within the
last 24 hours.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Thai health
authorities warned that residents should brace themselves for a
potential jump in coronavirus cases after classifying the country's
first cluster of the Omicron variant as a super-spreader incident.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, The Turkish lira
weakened for the third consecutive day, tumbling 5.6% and eating
further into the huge gains made the previous week, as worries
persisted over soaring inflation and unorthodox monetary policy.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
2021Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, In the UAE daily
coronavirus infections rose above 2,000 for the first time since
June. Authorities recorded 2,234 new infections in the past 24
hours.
   (Reuters, 12/29/21)
Go to
http://www.timelinesdb.com
Go to December 30