Portal:Current events/2005 December 14

December 14, 2005 (Wednesday)

The European Parliament has adopted the directive on Telecommunications data retention. (BBC)
U.S. Budget Approval — More than 100 religious activists were arrested on Wednesday after they staged a peaceful sit-in at the Cannon House Office Building, near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. They were protesting the proposed cuts to health care and other social welfare programs in the Federal Budget. The protest was organized by Jim Wallis, editor of the liberal Christian journal Sojourners Magazine Washington Post SJMN
U.S. President George W. Bush says that the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was the result of faulty intelligence, and accepts responsibility for that decision. He maintains that his decision was still justified. (BBC)
Doctors in Pakistan marvel at the survival of Naqsha Bibi, rescued last Saturday, 63 days after she was buried in the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. (BBC)
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announces that Brazil will clear its International Monetary Fund debt of $15.5bn two years early. (BBC)
In India, 11 Hindus are sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat violence. (BBC)
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- An Israeli Air-Strike in the Gaza Strip leaves four Palestinians dead. Israel claims that all four were militants and were about to launch a rocket attack into Israel. (BBC) (Haaretz)
- Israel has approved further expansion of the Jewish Settlements within the West Bank. A further 300 Jewish houses will be added to the Maale Adumim settlement. (BBC)
The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, describes the Holocaust as a myth. He also said that Europe should house the Jews of the world, rather than the Palestinians. (BBC) (The Guardian)
A reservoir bursts near Lesterville, Missouri at the Taum Sauk hydroelectric power plant on the Black River, causing significant damage. (DisasterNews)
In Japan, former one-class authorized architect Hidetsugu Aneha, Takeshi Uchikawa, Akira Shinozuka and Moriyoshi Kimura receives a summons of witnesses by the Diet because of concerning falsification of earth-quake resistant structural data about condominiums and hotels. (The Japan Times Online) Subtitled "Tuba Adventure"
Movie premiere of King Kong.