June 28, 2005

June 28 2005 (Tuesday)

* Operation Red Wing, a counterterrorism mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan, involving four U.S. Navy SEAL members, took place. Three of the SEALs were killed during the operation, whilst a fourth was protected by local villagers and was rescued by the US military. In addition, an MH-47 Chinook helicopter carrying 8 Nightstalkers - members of the Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) - and 8 US Navy SEALs was shot down while attempting to come to their rescue to provide extraction in the mountains of the Kunar province, Afghanistan.
* Garda Siochána (Irish police) dig up a garden in a Dublin suburb to search for the remains of a baby murdered in the 1970s. The child's mother states that she became pregnant twice, aged 11 and 15, as a result of incest. On both occasions her family murdered her newborn child. One of the two murdered children was found dumped on a Dún Laoghaire street in 1973. [http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0628/dalkey.html (RTÉ)]
* Bill C-38 passes through the Canadian House of Commons, placing Canada on track to become the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, likely by July. [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/05/04/same-sex050504.html (CBC)]
* AMD files an antitrust lawsuit against rival chipmaker Intel [http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050628_102226.html (Tom's Hardware)]
* Pakistan's Supreme Court suspends the acquittal of five men accused of raping Mukhtaran Bibi. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4629457.stm (BBC)]
* In the Solent, Queen Elizabeth II conducts a Fleet Review of 167 naval, merchant and tall ships from Britain and 35 other nations to commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Ironically, the largest ship in attendance is the French aircraft carrier, "Charles de Gaulle". Naval vessels from as far away as Japan and South Korea are in attendance. The tall ships will conduct a re-enactment of a Napoleonic War naval battle later in the day. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4627453.stm (BBC)]
* In France, police search offices of specialty chemicals company Rhodia and finance ministry in the investigation of accounting irregularities and inside trading. Finance minister Thierry Breton was a member of the Rhodia board. [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8AVTENG1.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down (Business Week)] [http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/06/27/afx2113164.html (Forbes)] [http://iht.com/articles/2005/06/27/business/rhodia.php (IHT)]
* Countries backing the ITER fusion reactor meet in Moscow to decide if the experimental fusion reactor will be built in Cadarache, Southern France, instead of Japan. [http://www.physorg.com/news4760.html (PhysOrg)] [http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/226&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en (European Commission)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4629239.stm (BBC)] [http://iht.com/articles/2005/06/28/news/fusion.php (IHT)]
* Emperor Akihito of Japan and empress Michiko pay an unannounced visit to the memorial of Korean war dead during his visit in Saipan. [http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=341533 (Japan Today] [http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200506280111.html Asahi Shimbun)] [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-06-28T073125Z_01_FOR813391_RTRUKOC_0_JAPAN-EMPEROR-SAIPAN.xml (Reuters)]
* A team of US and Canadian scientists announces that they may have found a way of vaccination against Lassa fever. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4626637.stm (BBC)] [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2005-06-28T000249Z_01_N27317021_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-HEALTH-LASSA-DC.XML (Reuters)]
* Italian police detain Angelo Sacco after a shooting spree in Bogogno, near Milan. Three people are dead. [http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200506271855-1226-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia (AGI)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4628065.stm (BBC)]
* Guinea-Bissau's former president Kumba Yala declares that he accepts the results of presidential elections in the country "in the interest of peace and democracy" but still insists that he actually won. No candidate has won 50% of the vote and the next round of elections commences in July. [http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42c0ef25:5cfd8de361b98029?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=8910101 (Reuters SA)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4628633.stm (BBC)]
* United Nations rapporteur Manfred Nowak states that the United States may be secretly holding prisoners on military vessels. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4632087.stm (BBC)]
* In Egypt presidential candidate Ayman Nour pleads not guilty in forging signatures in his party's registration. His supporters demonstrate outside the courthouse. Nour is regarded as the main rival canditate to incumbent president Hosni Mubarak. [http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=66111&d=29&m=6&y=2005 (Arab News)] [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/64E4A476-568F-4AC2-B33E-18E65CF3D8D5.htm (Al-Jazeera)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4629573.stm (BBC)] [http://www.reuters.co.za/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42c158a6:a54829d0c0afc2a5?type=topNews&localeKey=en_ZA&storyID=8915473 (Reuters)]
* Ugandan parliament votes to remove the law that limits presidential terms to two 5-year terms. Opposition critics say that it intended to make Yoweri Museveni president-for-life. Police disperses opposition demonstrators with tear gas. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4630209.stm (BBC)] [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8916599 (Reuters)] [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/bcd62c18388987c485bb2429b08188de.htm (Reuters AlertNet)]
* Supreme court of Canada rules that Rwandan Leon Mugesera should be deported. He is accused of incitement during Rwandan genocide. [http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=15f86f17-fe96-449d-a423-eb668529737c (Canada.Com)] [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8918761 (Reuters)]
* In Malawi, parliament speaker Rodwell Munyenyembe dies, four days after he collapsed during a heated parliamentary debate. [http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1728591,00.html (News24)] [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28449808.htm (Reuters AlertNet)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4629595.stm (BBC)]
* In Pakistan, fault in undersea cable severs some of the country's internet and mobile phone links abroad. Repairs may take three days. [http://www.dawn.com/2005/06/29/top4.htm (Pakistan Dawn)] [http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/155154/1/.html (Channel News Asia] [http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-06-29T081257Z_01_HO929572_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-TELECOMS-PAKISTAN.XML (Reuters)]
* In Germany, former deputy defense minister Holger Pfahls admits that in 1990 he took a bribe worth million euros from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber in connection of a sale of armored vehicles to the USA. He is in trial accused of taking bribes from Saudi Arabia in a similar deal in 1991. [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1631325,00.html (Deutsche Welle)] [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aOcQmLuEW_8o&refer=europe (Bloomberg)]
* In Australia, councillor Paul Tully wants to exhume the bodies of outlaws Steve Hart and Dan Kelly, two members of Ned Kelly's gang, because he suspects they may have survived and fled to Queensland. [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1401855.htm (ABC)] [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15754179%255E29277,00.html (Australian)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4630361.stm (BBC)]
* A federal jury in Birmingham, Alabama acquits Richard Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, of all criminal charges arising out of the $2.7 billion in accounting fraud at that company.