January 18, 2005

January 18, 2005

* Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
** Palestinian suicide bomber killed one and wounded six Israelis in Gush Katif junction in the Gaza Strip. Hamas claimed responsibility. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/528761.html (Haaretz)]
* Bao Tong, Zhao Ziyang's former secretary and the highest ranking official to be jailed after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 is blocked from paying his respects at a mourning hall set up in Zhao's Beijing home. Bao's wife, Jiang Zongcao, was injured in the scuffle with plain-clothes police and had to be hospitalized. [http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_international.asp?id=51156 (Reuters)]
* Conflict in Iraq:
**Iraq is to close all its land borders for three days around the 30 January elections in an attempt to enhance security, election officials have said. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4183243.stm (BBC)]
** Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Basile Georges Casmoussa is kidnapped in Iraq. The Vatican condemns the act and demands his release; Casmoussa is later freed. [http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=34711 (Catholic World News)] [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7347475 (Reuters)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4183131.stm (BBC)]
* A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins. About 3,000 government officials, non-governmental experts and other specialists from around the world will discuss the growing trend of people affected by natural disasters. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4183181.stm (BBC)] [http://www.unisdr.org/wcdr/ (WCDR Official Site)]
* The government of Sudan signs a preliminary peace treaty with the National Democratic Alliance, an opposition umbrella group of rebels in the north and east of the country. [http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=7577 (Sudan Tribune)] [http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-01/17/article07.shtml (IslamOnline)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4180961.stm (BBC)]
* In France, labour unions are threatening to begin a succession of strikes to protest against the government of president Jacques Chirac. [http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=15828&name=France+braces+for+week+of+anti-reform+strikes (Expatica)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4182961.stm (BBC)]
* The Airbus A380 is officially launched at a ceremony in the main French Airbus factory in Toulouse. Carrying between 550 and 840 passengers (depending on configuration), the double decker A380 is now the largest passenger airliner in the world. [http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=655866 (Reuters)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4183201.stm (BBC)]
* Mark Latham, leader of Australia's opposition Labor Party, resigns from his position and from parliament due to ill health. Possible replacements include former deputy prime minister Kim Beazley, shadow foreign minister Kevin Rudd and shadow health minister Julia Gillard. [http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11979884%255E1702,00.html (Melbourne Herald Sun)] [http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1284214.htm (ABC)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4183267.stm (BBC)]
* The United Nations World Food Program appeals for aid to Mauritania, after drought and large locust swarms destroy the harvest. [http://allafrica.com/stories/200501170001.html (AllAfrica)] [http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29051/story.htm (Planet Ark)] [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/b1038cfffec750de91fed12a69d1ced5.htm (Reuters Alertnet)]
* Two former Bosnian Serb officers, Vidoje Blagojevic and Dragan Jokic, have been convicted and imprisoned for their complicity in the Srebrenica massacre in 1995. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4181603.stm (BBC)]