Portal:Current events/2005 March 7

March 7, 2005 (Monday)

Prisoner abuse in Iraq: American troops in Iraq filmed themselves kicking a gravely wounded prisoner in the face and making the arm of a corpse appear to wave, then titled the effort "Ramadi Madness" after the city where it was made. (Reuters via Yahoo)
Former US President George H. W. Bush has praised his successor Bill Clinton after Clinton allowed Bush to sleep on the only Bed in the airplane the pair were using on their tour of tsunami-hit areas. (BBC)
John R. Bolton is nominated by President George W. Bush to become the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. (CNN) (Fox News).
Hans Bethe, Nobel Laureate in Physics, discoverer of stellar fusion, key participant in development of atomic and hydrogen bombs, outspoken critic of arms race and nuclear testing, died at age 98. wikinews Cornell University News Service
A Vietnamese nurse is confirmed to have contracted the bird flu, raising the number bird flu patients in Vietnam to 22, since late 2004. (Xinhua) (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-10 at the Wayback Machine (Bloomberg)
Irish singer Bono, of rock band U2, is nominated for World Bank presidency. (Guardian) (Business World) (Zaman)
Sony Corporation announces that its current US operations chief, British-born Howard Stringer, is to become its first-ever non-Japanese Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. (Channelnewsasia)
The People's Republic of China warns that it will not tolerate the United States and Japan including Taiwan in any security alliance. (AFP)
In Moldova, ruling Pro-Western Communist Party of the Republic of Moldova wins a narrow majority in parliamentary elections but will be probably unable to elect a president without further political alliances with other parties (Reuters) (BBC) (CNN)
3-19 shooting incident: Police in Taiwan says that they have identified the man who shot at president Chen Shui-bian last year. Wife of unemployed man Chen Yi-hsiung says he confessed and committed suicide a few days later (CNA, Taiwan) (Reuters Alertnet) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
Italy prepares a funeral for the agent Nicola Calipari who died in Iraq protecting released hostage Giuliana Sgrena. Sgrena disputes US Army account of the shooting (New York Post) (BBC) (BBC Sgrena interview)
In South Korea, finance minister Lee Hun-jai resigns over allegations that his wife has made illegal property deals (Korea Times) (Bloomberg) (Reuters UK)
German financial company Deutsche Börse withdraws its takeover of the London Stock Exchange (MarketWatch) (Bloomberg) (BBC)
Malaysia and Indonesia agree to talks about the border dispute in Borneo over oil resources. Indonesia has deployed military units to the area (Channel News Asia) (Reuters) (Jakarta Post)
Representatives of European Union meet with those of Turkey, a prospective new member. They also criticize Turkish police for violent handling of a demonstration that marked the International Women's Day in Istanbul. Turkish officials promise to investigate the case (Bloomberg) (IHT)
Momčilo Perišić, former Yugoslavian army general, hands himself in to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He is charged with complicity of Serbian separatist war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia during the Yugoslav Wars. (Bloomberg) (B92) (BBC)
A prison fire in the Dominican Republic claims 134 lives and injured 25. Fire started during a clash of prison gangs (Reuters) Archived 2005-03-10 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)
In Spain, prosecutors of the case of Adolfo Scilingo, Argentine naval officers accused of multiple counts of genocide, murder and terrorism, request a prison sentence of 9138 years (Prensa Latina) (BBC)
In Norway, police recovers three paintings of Edvard Munch the day after they were stolen (CNN) (BBC)
In Sierra Leone, three members of the former military government, Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, go on trial accused of crimes against humanity during the civil war. (Reuters) (AllAfrica) (ReliefWeb) (BBC)