- Champion race horse Best Mate suffers a heart attack and dies while racing in front of a live television audience.
- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats force a closed session of the Senate over misinformed intelligence that led to the Iraq war and evasion of a congressional inquiry. (CNN)
- The discovery of two additional moons of Pluto is announced. (CNN)
- The United Nations Security Council passed a UNSC resolution (S/RES/1636 (2005)) which requests urgently and forcefully Syria's full cooperation with the investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. (CCTV)
- Zanzibar's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party and President Amani Abeid Karume are declared re-elected in a disputed election. Police clashed with opposition supporters, leaving 9 dead. (Reuters) (Reuters) (Guardian)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: 2 Palestinian militants, one from Hamas, the other the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, have died following an Israeli air-strike in the Gaza Strip. (BBC)
- North Korea and South Korea will field a united Olympics team at the next Olympic Games. (BBC)
- Justice John Gomery releases the first part of the Gomery Commission report on corruption in the Liberal Party of Canada and the sponsorship scandal. Gomery exonerates current Prime Minister Paul Martin but criticizes former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his Quebec lieutenant Alfonso Gagliano. (CBC)
- 2005 Paris riots continue for the fifth consecutive night, sparked by the death of two Muslim youths from electric shock. The controversy caused by police firing tear gas into a mosque on Sunday night led to families of the dead youths pulling out of a meeting with the French Interior Minister. (news24)
- Makybe Diva wins the Melbourne Cup thoroughbred horse race for the third consecutive year, becoming the first horse ever to do so. Shortly thereafter, owner Tony Santic announces her retirement from racing. (Herald Sun)
- U.S. prosecutors admitted that Omar al-Faruq was one of four detainees to escape from the Bagram base, Afghanistan, in July, all of whom are still on the run. (BBC)
- Guinea-Bissau's President Nino Vieira appoints Aristides Gomes, a former African Development Bank official, as new Prime Minister, replacing the dismissed Carlos Gomes Júnior. (xinhua) (Reuters)
- Donald E. Powell, former chief executive of the First National Bank of Amarillo, Texas and current Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman is named to coordinate rebuilding of the Gulf Coast by President George W. Bush. (White House) (Washington Times)
- The Washington Post reports that the Central Intelligence Agency has been operating, perhaps as illegally, a covert network of "black site" prisons for terrorist suspects in eight foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, and several Eastern European democracies for the last four years, with little or no oversight from the United States Congress. (The Washington Post)
- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nominates Sadeq Mahsouli as Supervisor of Ministry of Petroleum of OPEC's number two producer, risking domestic political commotion and a parliamentary veto after already making a disturbance abroad with a call for Israel's destruction. (Reuters)
- The Delhi police release three sketches of one of the suspected bombers involved in 29 October 2005 Delhi bombings. (NDTV)
- A car bomb kills six in Srinagar, India (Rediff)
- The British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Blunkett, resigns a second time, following allegations of ministerial misconduct over his directorship and purchase of shares in a bioscience company. John Hutton is named as his replacement. (Investment & Pensions Europe).
- The 2005 Paris riots continue for the sixth consecutive night. Rioting spread through impoverished suburbs, which was sparked by the death of two youths who were allegedly fleeing police and were accidentally electrocuted while hiding in an electrical substation. The riots have caused increased strains between the authorities and the inhabitants of the poor suburbs. (AP)
- 80 of the world's top radio astronomers meet in Pune, India to decide how and where to set up the world's biggest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array. (NDTV)
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: An Israel Defense Forces soldier is seriously wounded and later dies of his wounds in an overnight arrest raids near the West Bank town of Jenin. (Ynetnews)
- At least 23 people are killed and 160 wounded in clashes between opposition supporters and police in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. (Reuters)
- A bomb explosion near a convoy of cars carrying Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi in Mogadishu. Although the PM escapes unhurt, 9 people have been killed and 20 others wounded. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori arrives in Santiago, Chile after being exiled in Japan since 2000. Although he is the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant, the Chilean government said he cannot be arrested without an order from a Chilean judge. Fujimori arrives at a time of tension between Chile and Peru over sea boundaries. (CNN) (Link dead as of 22:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- People in several parts of Germany report several fireballs in the sky, leading to speculation that they may be UFOs. Scientists report that the sightings are of the Taurid meteor shower. (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Azerbaijani citizens go to the polls in the Azerbaijan parliamentary election, 2005. Opposition parties have alleged that there is voting fraud. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- The tenth night of the 2005 French riots is reported as being the most intense yet, and the riots are now the subject of crisis meetings in the French government. President Jacques Chirac has called for the arrest, trial and punishment of the rioters. (BBC)
- A tornado estimated to be over ½ mile wide and of F3 strength on the Fujita scale hits around 2 a.m. near Evansville, Indiana. Over 20 are killed and 200 injured. (National Weather Service) (Yahoo! News) (Link dead as of 20:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Show called The Boondocks first airs on Adult Swim, a late night segment of Cartoon Network.
- Sierra Leone Health and Sanitation Minister, Abator Thomas says that polio has been eradicated in the country, following a successful immunization program. (allAfrica)
- The United Nations is asking donors for US$3.2 million to help six West African countries fight cholera. The disease has killed at least 700 people and infected over 42,000 in the region since June, a sharp rise due to the unusually heavy rains this year. (allAfrica)
- India's foreign minister, K. Natwar Singh, is forced to step down from his post amid allegations that he and the governing Indian National Congress had illegally benefited from the UN Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq. (Reuters)
- Canadian New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton withdraws his support to the minority government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. This decision might set a confidence vote in the next week. (Globe & Mail)
- China closes all Beijing poultry markets. Authorities ordered all live poultry markets in China's capital to close immediately and went door-to-door seizing chickens and ducks from private homes, as the government dramatically ramped up its fight against avian influenza today. (Business Week)
- Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru, is arrested in Chile whilst a Chilean judge considers a Peruvian extradition request. (BBC)
- India opens the first of three frontier checkpoints at Chakan Da Bagh in Poonch on the Kashmir Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, for 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief work. (Rediff)
- The 2005 French urban riots continue to intensify and spread, in the eleventh consecutive night of rioting in cities across France. A related incident has been reported in Saint-Gillis, Brussels, Belgium (Guardian) (BBC) (CNN) (Le Figaro) (in French)
- Liberian elections, 2005: Liberians go to the polls in a presidential runoff between millionaire soccer star George Weah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former finance minister known as the "Iron Lady". (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) (Scotsman) (CBC)
- U.S. General Election, 2005:
- French President Jacques Chirac declares a state of emergency on the 12th day of the civil unrest. Chirac's move followed the re-activation in a cabinet emergency session of a 1955 law allowing local authorities to impose curfews. (New York Times) (registation required), (CNN)
- Trials of Saddam Hussein: Three gunmen assassinate Adel al-Zubeidi, the defense lawyer for Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi Vice President under Saddam Hussein. (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
- Italian state-owned channel RaiNews 24 airs a controversial documentary in which Iraqi people and ex-U.S. soldiers report that white phosphorus, a chemical weapon, and Mk-77 napalm bombs were used by the U.S. Army against civilians in Fallujah last year. (BBC) (Rai News 24, with video)
- Australian police claim to have disrupted a large-scale terrorist attack as 17 suspects, allegedly led by Abdul Nacer Benbrika, are arrested in Melbourne and Sydney following raids. (Sydney Morning Herald) (CNN)
- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) says that the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research is about to start a controversial program that could kill up to 940 whales in the name of scientific research, abusing the rights under the International Whaling Convention. (abc.net.au) (IOL)
- Facing the world's highest HIV infection rate, Swaziland is drafting a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill proposing the death penalty for child rape, incest and the intentional transmission of HIV. (IRIN)
- Amir Peretz is elected leader of the Israeli Labor Party, narrowly defeating the incumbent, Shimon Peres. (BBC)
- A gun battle between the Indonesian police and militants in East Java kills seven militants, including suspected Bali bombings mastermind Azahari Husin who is believed to have blown himself up. (Reuters) (Reuters)
- Three explosions rock the city of Amman, Jordan, killing at least 67 and injuring more than 300 other people, mostly Westerners. (BBC)
- In Israel, archaeologists discover two lines of a Phoenician or Hebrew alphabet on a stone dating to the 10th century BC, suggesting that literacy existed in ancient Israel earlier than had been thought. "All successive alphabets in the ancient world, including the Greek one, derive from this ancestor at Tel Zayit," says the excavation's director. (IHT) (AP)
- In the United States, the visit of Iraqi Deputy Premier Ahmed Chalabi to the Department of State and Department of the Treasury arouses controversy. (BBC)
- In the United Kingdom, the Government loses a key House of Commons vote on detaining terrorism suspects for 90-days without charge, in the report stage of the Terrorism Bill. This is Tony Blair's first ever commons defeat and has been described a serious blow to his authority. Michael Howard advises him to resign now. (BBC)
- Venus Express, the first mission to Venus in over a decade, lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (BBC)
- U.S. General Election, 2005
- Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wins the Liberian presidential runoff, defeating George Weah and becoming the first-ever female president on the continent of Africa. (CNN) (Indystar)
- Investigations of the 17th Street Canal, whose failure flooded much of New Orleans, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, show that metal pilings were 7 feet shallower than engineering specifications. (Times-Picayune)
- The United States House of Representatives drops a provision in the Deficit Reduction Bill that would permit the drilling of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for fear of losing moderate Republicans when the bill comes to a final vote. (SFGate) (Seattle-PI)
- A Boeing 777-200LR Worldliner jet aircraft breaks the record for the longest non-stop passenger airline flight. The 20,000-kilometer (12,500-mile) flight from Hong Kong to London lasted 23 hours. (Boeing) (BBC)
- Conflict in Afghanistan: Afghan Insurgents, suspected members of the Taliban, kill seven police in an ambush in Kandahar. Two civilians from Uruzgan were also found decapitated. (BBC)
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 30 people have died following an insurgent suicide bomb attack on a restaurant in Baghdad. (BBC)
- In Addis Ababa the capital city of Ethiopia, 7 members of the police have been killed and 250 sustained injuries from attacks by rioters using guns, hand grenades and stones. (allAfrica)
- Stephen Harper, Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton, leaders of Canada's three parliamentary opposition parties, issue a joint ultimatum calling for the next Canadian federal election to be moved forward to early February from the April date favoured by the government. They threaten to pass a motion of non-confidence and force an election at Christmas if Paul Martin's Liberal government does not accede to the move in writing. Martin rejects their proposal. (CBC)
- The 27th tropical depression in the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season develops in the southeastern Caribbean which could bring isolated amounts of between 10 and 12 inches of rain over the Lesser Antilles. (U.S. NHC)
- Eddie Guerrero, a performer for World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand, was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota from a massive coronary while brushing his teeth at the age of 38. He was in Minneapolis for a WWE Raw/SmackDown! supershow taping at the Target Center, which was turned into a four-hour double memorial show in Eddie's honor. (ABC News) (Pro Wrestling Torch)
- British doctors are to continue checks on Andrew Stimpson, a Scotsman whose body has reportedly cured itself of HIV infection. (BBC) (Reuters)
- Conflict in Iraq - Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells British television that Iraqi troops could replace UK forces by the close of 2006. (BBC)
- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi defends his handling of opposition demonstrations against claims of abuse. (BBC)
- 7.5 million voters in Burkina Faso participate in the presidential elections of 2005. (BBC)
- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asks Nepalese King Gyanendra to take steps towards restoring democratic rule. (BBC)
- Thailand confirms its 4th H5N1 bird flu case this year. The victim is an 18 month-old boy living in Bangkok. Health experts advise the public to be on high alert. (The Nation) (Bangkok Post)
- Explosions in a Chinese chemical plant force the evacuation of over 10,000 people. (Xinhua)
- Following the bomb attacks in Amman, Jordanian police arrest a woman said to be the wife of a suicide attacker. (BBC)
- The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation agrees at its summit to admit Afghanistan as a member, and to accord China and Japan observer status. (Kantipur Online)
- 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal: Sony BMG recalls all unsold CDs that are equipped with XCP, a controversial copyright protection software. (vnunet.com) (FT) (NBC4) (BBC) (Reuters)
- 173 prisoners are found in an Iraqi government bunker in Baghdad, having been starved, beaten and tortured. (CBC) (BBC)
- Terrorism in Pakistan: A car bomb explodes outside a KFC outlet in Karachi, Pakistan around 08:45 (UTC+5). At least three people are killed and eight others wounded. (CNN)
- Quebec, Canada: Former Minister André Boisclair is elected Leader of the Parti Québécois, the provincial official opposition and Quebec's main party promoting separation of the French-speaking province from Canada, in the Parti Québécois leadership election, 2005. (CBC)
- Mid-November 2005 Tornado Outbreak: Many tornadoes (at least 50 confirmed) have been reported during the afternoon and evening across central North America, stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Damage has been reported in many areas, and at least one person was killed. [3]
- Japan: 2005 Sanriku Japan Earthquake A 6.9-magnitude earthquake, as determined by the Japan Meteorological Society, occurred off the northern coast of Japan near Sanriku at 6:39am Japan Standard Time (UTC+9), prompting a tsunami warning to be issued in Japan and the western coast of the United States. (Yahoo) (USGS)
- Sayako, Princess Nori of Japan marries a commoner and thereby leaves the Imperial Family, taking the surname of her husband. (The Age) (Reuters) (BBC)
- The French Parliament permits President Jacques Chirac's government to extend emergency powers for three months to quell civil unrest. (BBC) (Guardian) (Indian Express)
- The New York Stock Exchange reaches an out-of-court settlement with some of its seat holders who had filed a lawsuit in an effort to prevent the NYSE's proposed acquisition of electronic trading firm Archipelago Holdings. The settlement requires a new independent financial review of the merits of the deal. Dissidents complain that the NYSE is over-paying. (Reuters)
- Students at the University of Tennessee (UT) received international criticism and praise for interrupting U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's keynote speech at the groundbreaking of the Harold Baker Center. The students protested in favor of ending the Iraq War by "heckling" Cheney while a group of 50-100 protesters gathered outside the building also protesting the war. This incident has come to be known as the Baker Center Protest. [4]
- Sri Lankan presidential election, 2005: Sri Lanka holds its presidential election to appoint the fifth executive president. The election was conducted peacefully despite a few minor incidents. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa defeats former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the election. (Times of India) (Reuters)
- The press baron Conrad Black is charged with multiple counts of fraud regarding his dealings with Hollinger International. (BBC)
- Controversial historian David Irving is arrested in Vienna on charges of denying the Holocaust, a criminal offence in Austria. (Reuters)
- Former rock star Gary Glitter, previously convicted on child pornography charges, is being sought by Vietnamese authorities who seek to question him about under-age sex allegations. (Reuters)
- The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world-wide Anglican Communion, is challenged to rethink his personal stance on the ordination of gay clergy in the light of scripture by nearly half of all the Anglican Primates. (Guardian Online)
- French Police declare a "return to normalcy throughout France" as civil unrest subsides. (Le Monde)
- British Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly promises that student selection will not return to schools. (BBC)
- Members of the European Parliament pass an item of controversial chemical safety testing legislation, known as the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) law. (BBC)
- Just 13 days before his 3rd birthday, Steven Jacob Gaines sets fire to his home in Oceanside, CA. Stevie was thought to be taking a nap but was instead playing with a bbq lighter behind the closed doors of his bedroom. Stevie touched hundreds of lives in his 3 short (but full) years. Those who love him and were loved by him, continue to miss him terribly every day.
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