Portal:Current events/2005 February 8

February 8, 2005 (Tuesday)

Conflict in Iraq: Guerrillas in Baquba detonate a car bomb outside an Iraqi police headquarters, killing 15 and wounding 17. A suicide bomber in Mosul kills 12 policemen and injures 4 others. In another area of the city, guerrillas fire a dozen mortar rounds at a police station, killing 3 civilians. (Scotsman/AP)
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A truce is declared between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, and Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, shook hands at a four-way summit at Sharm el-Sheikh that was also attended by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah. Palestinian organization Hamas says it is not bound by the ceasefire. (BBC)
In Denmark, parliamentary elections result in a continuation of the center-right coalition of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. (BBC)
In Nepal, phone lines and internet connections are restored. (BBC) (Sify) At the same time, the army begins air strikes against Maoist troops. (Reuters)
Swiss police are searching for three apparent burglars who yesterday briefly held hostages in the Spanish embassy in Bern. When the police stormed the building, they discovered that the criminals had already left the scene. An embassy security guard is in the hospital. (SwissInfo) (Reuters)
The President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, increases his personal security after an advisor reportedly leaked his itinerary to a Mexican drug cartel. (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-09 at the Wayback Machine (Bloomberg) (BBC)
A ban on tobacco smoking in public places begins in Cuba. (Reuters) (BBC)
In China, the Ministry of Agriculture announces that it has developed a vaccine against bird flu spreading to humans (New Ratings) (BBC)
The parliament in Greece elects Karolos Papoulias as their new president for the next five-year term. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) (Washington Post)
In response to the floods in Guyana, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launches a Flash Appeal to cover both immediate and transitional needs of the affected people. The floods, a result of the torrential rains that occurred during the middle of January, continue to affect over 290,000 people, or roughly 39% of the population. The torrential rains were the worst for the region in roughly a century. (Jouvay) (Guyana Outpost)