Portal:Current events/2005 May 17

May 17, 2005 (Tuesday)

Guantánamo Bay Qur'an desecration allegations: The Bush Administration suggests that to undo "damage" caused by the story, Newsweek explain the process by which their story alleging Qur'an desecration, which sparked riots leading to 17 deaths, came into being. (NYTimes)
U.S. authorities detain Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA-linked anti-Castro militant, considered a terrorist by Cuba. (Financial Times)
George Galloway, British MP and anti-war campaigner, appears before the United States Senate to defend himself against charges that he profited from Saddam Hussein's regime, launching a tirade against the senators who had accused him and attacking the war in Iraq. (BBC) (Guardian Unlimited) (The Times Online)
Unrest in Uzbekistan: The Uzbek government says they will allow foreign diplomats to visit Andijan. Survivors from Andijan who have crossed the border to Kyrgyzstan say that government troops opened fire without warning and that they were shelled in the Kyrgyzstan border crossing. Opposition believes that as many as 745 may be dead. Official government death toll is 169. Government officials still deny that soldiers killed civilians (Moscow Times) (Reuters AlertNet) (Guardian Unlimited) (London Free Press) (Guardian Unlimited) (Interfax) (Reuters AlertNet) (IHT) (Telegraph)
12,000 protesters march in the Brazilian capital of Brasília to protest the government's slowness in land reform. A 17-day march of the Landless Workers Movement ends with violence in the capital when the demonstrators clash with the riot police. Over 50 people are injured. (Bloomberg) (Reuters) (BBC)
In Guatemala, gunmen assassinate public prosecutor Erick Galvez in Chiquimula department. (BBC)
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue announces she has been diagnosed with the early stages of breast cancer and is postponing her upcoming Australian tour. (SMH) (The Age) (BBC) (NineMSN)
Canadian Conservative MP Belinda Stronach crosses the floor of the House of Commons to sit with the Liberals, two days before a crucial budget vote that could determine whether the Liberal government falls or not. (CBC)
The Spanish parliament approves plan to begin negotiations with the Basque ETA. (IHT) (Guardian Unlimited) (Reuters AlertNet)
Judges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague send a case of Radovan Stanković back to new war crimes court in Bosnia. Stanković is accused of rape of Bosnian Muslim women in Foča in 1992. (BBC) (Reuters AlertNet)
A court in Paris sentences four men to 2-7 years in prison for complicity in the murder of Afghan resistance leader Ahmed Shah Masood in 2001. (BBC)
In Russia, the trial of Nur-Pashi Kulayev, the only survivor of the attackers in the Beslan school hostage crisis, begins. Relatives of the victims disrupt the proceedings. (Moscow Times) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
In Malawi, education minister Yusuf Mwawa is arrested for using public funds to pay for his wedding. (Reuters) Archived 2005-05-25 at the Wayback Machine (BBC)
A Kenyan court drops the murder charge of Thomas Cholmondeley for insufficient evidence. (IOL) (Reuters SA) (BBC)
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government unveils a controversial proposal for national identity cards and other counter-terrorism measures besides a bill on immigration. (Los Angeles Times) (Bloomberg)
American alternative metal band System of a Down release their first installment of their double album, Mezmerize