October 2005

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] Portal:Current events

<< October 2005 >> S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Deaths 2: August Wilson 3: Ronnie Barker 7: Charles Rocket 10: Milton Obote 17: Ba Jin 20: Endon Mahmood 22: Liam Lawlor 22: Shirley Horn 23: Stella Obasanjo 24: José Azcona del Hoyo 24: Rosa Parks 26: Emil Kyulev 28: Richard Smalley edit sidebar

[edit] 1 October 2005 (Saturday)

• The Ilamatepec volcano erupts in a coffee-growing area 40 miles (60 km) west of San Salvador, El Salvador, spitting rock and ash into the air. The Salvadoran government evacuates hundreds of people in the region and there are no reported injuries. San Salvador's air quality - already the most polluted in Central America - is significantly worsened by the additional volcanic debris. (Yahoo! news)(Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC))
• A bomb explodes outside of a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma, killing one. (ABC) (NYTimes) (registration required)
• A Russian rocket lifts a Soyuz spacecraft towards the International Space Station, carrying the third fare-paying space tourist, American Gregory Olsen. (CNN) (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) (FloridaToday)
• Four explosions are reported in Bali at popular tourist areas, killing at least 36 and injuring 103 people. (CNN) (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) (BBC) (WRKO)
• New Zealand's Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark is set to form a third-term government after the National Party loses a seat following the count of 'special' votes. She begins talks with minor party leaders to form a coalition government as well obtain the support of enough minor parties to have a majority on supply and confidence issues. (SBS) (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)) (NZ election results)
• The Indonesian government raises fuel prices by more than 100%, resulting in petrol prices of 4,500 rupiah (US$0.44) a litre (US$1.67 per gallon). (Reuters) (Link dead as of 22:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC))

[edit] 2 October 2005 (Sunday)

• Mexico wins the FIFA U-17 Men's Championship 2005 in Lima, Peru, beating Brazil 3-0 (Notimex)
• Severely injured victims of the 2005 Bali bombings are being evacuated to medical facilities in Australia and Singapore. The Australian Government has made moves to assist Indonesia in its response, dispatching Australian Federal Police officers and forensic experts to assist in investigations. (ABC)
• The Ethan Allen, a boat on Lake George, in Upstate New York, capsized killing 20 people. The boat has been raised by investigators. (CNN)
• The Ugandan Army is deploying troops to West Nile in readiness for an imminent military combat against the Lord's Resistance Army at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. (allAfrica)
• The astronomers who discovered Eris, referred to as "the tenth planet" by NASA and some media outlets, have announced that it has a moon, Dysnomia. (CNN)

[edit] 3 October 2005 (Monday)

• St. Tammany Parish Schools reopen in Louisiana just over a month after Hurricane Katrina closed them.
• West African leaders call for the strengthening of United Nations peacekeeping force to ensure efforts to end the three year civil war in Côte d'Ivoire pay off. A total 6,640 peacekeepers are currently serving in the UN force, which is under Senegalese command, monitoring the buffer zone between the north and south with the help of 4,000 French troops. (allAfrica)
• South Africa announces a ZAR 140 million (USD $22 million) donation to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to alleviate food shortages in Southern Africa. (allAfrica)
• Australians Barry J. Marshall and Robin Warren have been awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease". (BBC)
• U.S. Representative Tom DeLay is indicted on a charge of money laundering. (Reuters)
• Up to 60 police cadets have been swept away by powerful Typhoon Longwang in Fujian, south-east China. (BBC)
• Former Manchester United footballer George Best reported to be in intensive care (due to a kidney infection) at Cromwell Hospital, London. (BBC)
• At least 11 people die during a stampede at a concert in Sangju, South Korea. (BBC)
• On the first day of the U.S. Supreme Court's fall term, President George W. Bush nominates White House Counsel Harriet Miers to fill the seat currently held by Sandra Day O'Connor. The nominee has no judicial experience. (BBC).
• Conflict in Afghanistan: Afghan troops kill 31 suspects following clashes in Paktika, in eastern Afghanistan. (BBC)
• Millions of people view the solar eclipse which occurred at 10:31 UTC, mainly in Africa and south-west Europe. (BBC)
• A train derails and crashes in Datia, Madhya Pradesh in India, killing 16 people. (BBC)
• NTL, the largest British cable television company, telco and ISP, announces its multi-billion pound purchase of Telewest, the second largest cable company, creating one of the largest companies in the British media industry. (Guardian) (Bloomberg)
• Turkey and Croatia begin talks about joining the European Union following over a day of debate over an Austrian proposal that Turkey should be offered an associate status short of full membership. (BBC)
• In Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Media Guild announce a preliminary agreement to end the current lockout of CMG members in most of the country which seriously impaired corporation's programming since August 17. (Toronto Star)

[edit] 4 October 2005 (Tuesday)

• United States President George W. Bush expresses concern for a potential avian flu outbreak. He requests Congressional legislation permitting the military to impose a quarantine in the event of a deadly flu pandemic. (IndyStar)
• Eleven embassies in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, receive suspicious packages containing threatening letters and an unidentified liquid, triggering security alerts. (Forbes)
• Conflict in Iraq: Five U.S. soldiers die during sweeps of insurgent-held towns in Iraq. (Seattle Times).
• The Malawi government says that 650,000 people in the country have died due to AIDS in the past two decades. There are now 850,000 orphaned children, 50% resulting from AIDS. (allAfrica)
• The United Nations Security Council demands that Rwandan rebels, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), immediately disarm and leave Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Reuters)
• Two Congolese soldiers die and eleven others are injured in a plane crash as the United Nations and Democratic Republic of the Congo's army airlifted local troops to the northeastern frontier to confront Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels. (Reuters)
• One million French transportation workers and teachers hold a nationwide strike in opposition to the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's economic and labor policies, forcing the closure of schools and airports. (Reuters)
• Ohio Iraqi War veteran Paul Hackett is expected to run in the state Democratic primary to contest the seat of Republican Senator Mike DeWine. Hackett lost in a closely contested House race on August 2.(The Cincinnati Enquirer)
• Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch share in the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. (Nobelprize.org)
• Four Ugandan civilians are killed in a rare afternoon ambush on a pickup truck in northeast Uganda by Lord's Resistance Army rebels. The insurgents are suspected of shooting the driver and two passengers and killing a fourth with an axe. (BBC News)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A 37-year-old Palestinian mother of six is shot and killed after she stabbed and lightly injured a female Israel Defense Forces soldier at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus. No militant group claimed the attack, but it is known that the woman's brother was killed by the IDF at the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. (Ynetnews), (BBC)

[edit] 5 October 2005 (Wednesday)

• Level 3 Communications terminates peering connectivity between its Internet network and the one belonging to Cogent Communications over a financial dispute. As a result, thousands of Internet users are unable to access some sites. (PC World)
• England international football player Wayne Rooney is named as FIFA SOS Ambassador for England, in support of the official FIFA World Cup charity. (the FA) (SOS)
• Uganda-born John Sentamu is formally confirmed in office as the Archbishop of York, the second-highest post in the Church of England. (BBC) (The Telegraph)
• U.S. Marine Leandro Aragoncillo is indicted for espionage, accused of passing classified information from the Vice President's office to the Philippines. (Reuters)
• The Roman Catholic bishops of England, Wales, and Scotland issue a teaching guide which explains biblical passages should not be taken literally. The Creation, Garden of Eden and the creation of Eve from Adam's rib are considered to be "symbolic language". (Scotsman)
• Russian President Vladimir Putin in a ceremony at 10 Downing Street awards the Order of Maritime Service to six British military and civilian personnel responsible for the rescue of the mini-submarine AS-28 off the Kamchatka Peninsula. (North West Evening Mail)
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs, and Richard R. Schrock the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis". (Nobelprize.org)
• South Thailand insurgency: Five Thai soldiers are killed in a drive-by shooting in Thailand's Narathiwat province. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: The British Government alleges that Iran is responsible for recent attacks on British military forces. (BBC)
• Hurricane Stan strikes Mexico and Central America, at least 66 people have died, most of them in landslides in El Salvador. (CBC)
• Braving the threat of a veto from United States President George W. Bush, U.S. Senate Republicans joined Democrats, voting 90 to 9 to amend defense spending bill with a ban the use of torture by U.S. military forces. (FT) (Mercury News)
• The National Hockey League returns after a year-long lockout. Opening night featured all 30 teams in action, including young phenom Sidney Crosby's debut against the New Jersey Devils.

[edit] 6 October 2005 (Thursday)

• Five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group begun in Uganda, are targeted by the first arrest warrants to be issued by the International Criminal Court. (BBC)
• Gabon announces that the presidential elections are to be held on 27 November with security forces voting two days earlier, but opposition denounces the move as a ruse for ballot rigging. (allAfrica)
• Zimbabwe is facing increasing threat of military revolt, as soldiers are increasingly dissatisfied by the government's failure to increase their salaries and by chronic food shortages at their barracks. (allAfrica)
• New York City increases police presence in the New York City subway system after receiving a credible terror threat. (BBC)
• Hurricane Katrina: Louisiana National Guard officials say repeated news reports by CNN on September 1, 2005 that shots were fired at a UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter at the Louisiana Superdome were false. (Washington Post)
• Conflict in Iraq: As Iraqi president Jalal Talabani tells UK Prime Minister Tony Blair any troop withdrawal would be a "catastrophe" (BBC), 10 people die following a bomb near the Ministry of Oil in Baghdad. (BBC)
• The European Court of Human Rights rules the United Kingdom's ban on voting rights for prisoners is unlawful. (BBC)
• Properties in Manchester, England are searched by the Assets Recovery Agency during on-going investigations into the business activities of men alleged to have links with the Irish Republican Army. (BBC)
• Death toll of Hurricane Stan reaches 166. (Reuters)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel is to ban using Palestinians as human shields following a Supreme Court of Israel ruling. (BBC)
• Malalai Joya, a 27 year old women's rights worker, has won one of the first seats in Afghanistan's National Assembly, also called the Wolesa Jirga. (CNN)
• Ted Koppel will anchor his last broadcast of Nightline on 22 November and not in December 2005 as had been previously announced. (Reuters)

[edit] 7 October 2005 (Friday)

• Conflict in Afghanistan: U.S. Troops kill four Afghan police, after mistaking them for militants in the Girishk district of the Helmand Province. (BBC)
• Militants kill at least 8 members of the Ahmadiyya faith inside a Mosque as worshippers were performing Salah. The attack occurred in Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab, Pakistan. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq:
  • At least twenty-nine Iraqi fighters and six U.S. Marines are killed in major fighting in western Iraq. (BBC) (Reuters)
  • British forces have detained 12 people, including three police officers, in connection with a series of deadly attacks on UK forces in southern Iraq. (BBC)
• The UN International Atomic Energy Agency and its Director General Mohamed ElBaradei share the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to limit the spread of atomic weapons. (CNN) (Aftenposten) (Nobel Prize)
• Three Hamas members are kidnapped from their homes in the West Bank. A group, supportive of the Palestinian National Authority, calling itself the "Omar Ben al-Khatib Warriors" claims responsibility for the kidnappings of the three, and one is later freed. (Ynetnews)
• According to the BBC, the industrial solvent gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) is being used in the UK as a club drug, with lethal results. (BBC)

[edit] 8 October 2005 (Saturday)

• Five autonomous robots have completed the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, the winner (to be declared on Sunday) travelling the 132 mile course in less than 7.5 hours. (SFGate)
• A mudslide in Guatemala triggered by heavy rains buries the village of Panabaj. All 800 residents of the village are feared dead. (CNN)
• 2005 South Asia earthquake: An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale occurred at 08:52:38 UTC in a Pakistan- disputed territory of Kashmir, killing over 175,000 people. (NDTV) (USGS) (Indian Express)
• After 26 months of construction as part of People's Republic of China's Tenth Five-Year Plan, Nanjing's Third Yangtze Bridge opens. (Xinhua)
• Uganda Human Rights Commission, in its 2004 report, states that at least 4,000 children who were among the tens of thousands abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army rebels cannot be traced. This estimate is much lower than the previous estimate of 20,000 kidnapped children released by the most recent Human Rights Watch report. The UHRC accuses the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) of torturing the Acholi people of northern Uganda through brutal methods to extract information or to instill discipline in suspects. (allAfrica)
• 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Germany are: Italy, England, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Croatia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Angola, Togo, Ghana, Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Costa Rica.

[edit] 9 October 2005 (Sunday)

• In the Polish presidential election, frontrunner Donald Tusk of the liberal (libertarian) Civic Platform party receives approximately 35.8% of the vote, slightly ahead of Lech Kaczyński of the conservative Law and Justice Party with 33.3%. A run-off election between Tusk and Kaczyński will take place on October 23. (BBC)
• Three white New Orleans police officers are arrested after a video surfaces showing the officers brutally beating unarmed 64-year old Robert Davis. The victim, who is black, has been charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation. (Reuters), (BBC), (Footage of incident from BBC)
• New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. (Reuters)
• United Kingdom: In a joint statement, Anglican and Catholic leaders voice concerns over euthanasia as the House of Lords gears up for debate on legislation. (BBC)
• United Kingdom: Former actress and current Labour MP Glenda Jackson announces she intends to stand against Tony Blair in a leadership bid if he doesn't stand down in the near future. (BBC) (Scotsman)
• Tropical Storm Vince, the 20th named storm of the season (making the current Atlantic hurricane season the 2nd most active since recording first took place) is gaining hurricane strength while heading towards Europe. It is unusual for such a storm to form so far east in the Atlantic Ocean, and more so gaining hurricane strength, since the waters are much cooler than in the Caribbean area. (National Hurricane Center)
• Southend Pier, in the East of England, is devastated by a fire. (BBC)
• The members of the Canadian Media Guild vote 88% in favour of the proposed settlement of the lockout with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, officially ending the current labor dispute with the affected personnel resuming regular duties on October 11 with a gradual resumption of regular programming. (Toronto Star)
• The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 in the 18th inning of the longest post-season game in Major League Baseball history. (Houston Chronicle)

[edit] 10 October 2005 (Monday)

• New Orleans:
  • Three New Orleans officers accused of near fatally beating Robert Davis and assaulting a cameraman who taped the ordeal, plead not guilty.
  • Allegations that New Orleans police looted 200 cars (41 Cadillacs) are under investigation by Louisiana police.(Yahoo)
  • Widespread desertion, suicide, and crime among New Orleans police officers has been reported in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. (Reuters)
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully tests a $10 million jet that travels at twice the speed of sound. (Reuters)
• 2005 Kashmir earthquake: SOS Children have reported that despite the destruction of much of their Children’s Village in Muzaffarabad all of the children in their care are believed safe. [1]
• Conflict in Iraq: Insurgent attacks throughout Iraq leave seven Iraqis, two security officials from the Arab league and one U.S. soldier dead. (BBC)
• Following the German federal election, 2005, Christian Democrat Angela Merkel will become the next Chancellor of Germany, replacing Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder, although Schröder's party will be the dominant party in the Grand Coalition. (BBC) (Reuters)
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics, "for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis". (nobelprize.org)
• Aardman Animations, the company behind films such as Chicken Run, Creature Comforts, and the just-released Wallace and Gromit film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit lose their entire history, but not their film library, in a fire. (BBC)
• The former President of Uganda, Milton Obote, has died of kidney failure at the age of 80. Obote led the East African country from 1962-1971 and again from 1980-1985. (BBC)

[edit] 11 October 2005 (Tuesday)

• Conflict in Iraq: Insurgent suicide bomb attacks leave over 30 people dead in Talafar, North West Iraq. (BBC)
• Conflict in Afghanistan: 18 Afghan police die following an ambush in Halmand, southern Afghanistan. (BBC)
• 2005 Malawi food crisis: SOS Children launches emergency food program around Lilongwe and Mzuzu Malawi Crisis
• Liberian elections, 2005: Liberians head for the poll today to select a new president, 30 senators and 64 representatives for the lower house of parliament. (allAfrica)
• Divers off Portsmouth harbour raise the anchor and part of the bow of the wreck of the Tudor period warship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545. (BBC)

[edit] 12 October 2005 (Wednesday)

• Six armed Somali pirates hijack the MV Miltzow, a freighter that is carrying United Nations food aid. After its cargo of 850 tonnes of food aid was offloaded in the port of Merka, the ship was forced to sail down the coast to Barawa before being released two days later. (Reuters)
• CNN reports that the Louisiana attorney general is investigating the possibility that mercy killings of critically ill patients by staff medical professionals at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana occurred during Hurricane Katrina. (CNN) (BusinessWire) (DallasBusinessJournal)
• German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder informs that he won't play a role in the Merkel grand coalition cabinet. He criticizes the United States for its response to Hurricane Katrina and "Anglo-Saxon economic policies," while stressing the importance of Franco-Germanic ties. (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 30 people die following an insurgent suicide bomb attack in Talafar, North Western Iraq, the second such attack in as many days. (BBC)
• The People's Republic of China launches the manned Shenzhou 6 spacecraft. Fei Junlong and Niè Hǎishèng will spend five days in orbit in their Shenzhou spacecraft. (People's Daily)
• Iraq's Constitutional referendum: the prospects of the proposed Iraqi constitution being approved in Saturday's referendum are boosted by a deal struck with a major Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party. (CNN)
• Syria's interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide. (CNN)

[edit] 13 October 2005 (Thursday)

• The United Nations is to evacuate some staff from Sudan's West Darfur state because of an increase in violence. U.N. officials said that the violence had hindered aid access to 650,000 refugees in the region. (Reuters)
• Right to Information Act 2005, (Act No. 22/2005) law enacted by the Parliament of India giving citizens of India access to Government records, came into force in India. (RTIAct)
• ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross reports that security at nuclear reactors on U.S. college campuses is easily compromised. (ABC)(BadgerHerald)
• Shenzhou 6 could be brought back one day earlier than planned due to weather conditions at the landing area and the physical condition of the astronauts. The People's Republic of China's second human spaceflight was originally planned for the mission to last five days. (SpaceDaily)
• Scores of suspected Chechen separatist rebels attack the southern Russian city of Nalchik in a coordinated operation against Russian security forces, killing dozens of people. BBC 85 killed and map: (Washington Post)
• The presence of the dangerous H5N1 avian influenza virus is confirmed in dead birds found in Turkey, marking the first cases of the disease in Europe. (BBC)
• In Stockholm, it is announced that British playwright Harold Pinter is the 2005 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Reuters)
• Iraq's Constitutional Referendum: A four day curfew has been announced in order to hamper terrorists. Early voting has begun. (Reuters)

[edit] 14 October 2005 (Friday)

• Zimbabwean state-owned media announces that the Zimbabwean government briefly detained the United States ambassador, on Monday, October 10. The United States considers the matter closed following a formal apology. (Wash. Times)
• 2005 Kashmir earthquake: SOS Children's Villages have been appointed temporary custodian of unaccompanied children. SOS will run the family tracing database and look after children in their emergency centre in Islamabad and in other six villages in Kashmir. (SOS)
• A high ranking undercover Central Intelligence Agency officer, known only as "Jose," will coordinate CIA, FBI, and State Department spying operations as the new director of the National Clandestine Service. (Reuters)
• Futures industry regulators, brokerages, and futures exchanges in the United States engage in furious talks over how to avoid, or how to minimize the consequences of, the impending failure of Refco, a global commodities broker-dealer. (MSN Money)
• Security concern over Google maps - India's President has warned that the Google map service could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets.
• Former President of Ecuador, Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa, deposed by the Ecuadorian military on April 20, 1995, after days of civil disturbances in Quito, returns voluntarily to Ecuador and is immediately locked in a maximum security prison cell in Quito, on charges of attempting to subvert national security, after having repeatedly stated to the international media that he continues to be the legitimate President of the Republic of Ecuador. (El Universo, Guayaquil) (article in Spanish).
• Daniel Craig is announced as the sixth official James Bond actor.

[edit] 15 October 2005 (Saturday)

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Jean Ziegler, a Human rights investigator and senior United Nations official, has accuses the United States and occupying forces of "using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population" in Iraq. (BBC)
  • The Iraqi people go to the polls to vote on whether to approve the proposed constitution, amidst heavy security. (AP)
• Crown Princess Mary of Denmark gives birth to her first child, a 3.5 kg boy, at 0157 local time (2357 UTC Friday). The prince, likely to be named Christian, is second in line of succession to Europe's oldest crown. (Reuters)
• The Brazilian government extends a state of emergency to cover the whole of Amazonas, the country's largest state, following a severe drought which has seen many rivers and lakes dry up. (BBC)
• Election officials in Somaliland's first multiparty parliamentary elections in the breakaway republic announce that the ruling party, the For Unity, Democracy, and Independence won the most seats. (seattlepi)
• 2005 Malawi food crisis: President Bingu wa Mutharika declared a national disaster due to the worsening food shortages in the country. (Reuters)

[edit] 16 October 2005 (Sunday)

• Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, addresses the Millions More event in Washington DC and condemns George W. Bush for the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. (BBC)
• South Thailand insurgency: A Buddhist monk and five other people are killed and a Buddhist temple is set on fire. (Reuters)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
  • A leader of Islamic Jihad is killed in a shoot-out following an Israeli raid into the West Bank town of Jenin. (BBC)
  • The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claim responsibility for a West Bank shooting attack that kills three Israeli settlers at a hitchhiking post. Another Israeli is seriously wounded in a second shooting attack. (Haaretz)
• The reentry module of the Chinese manned spacecraft Shenzhou 6 lands safely in Inner Mongolia, China. (People's Daily).
• Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the Yasukuni shrine which honors Japan's war dead including 14 Class A war criminals of World War II. This is Koizumi's fifth visit to Yasukuni since taking office in 2001. (CNN)
• More than 4 million people vote in Italy for the primaries of the center left to elect the person that should represent the main antagonist to the current Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. (La Repubblica)

[edit] 17 October 2005 (Monday)

• 2 Umrah pilgrims die as the ship they were returning in crashed into a cargo ship in the Suez Canal. Initial reports of 20 fatalities proved unfounded, though over 90 people were injured. (BBC)
• Conflict in Iraq: The U.S. claims to have killed 70 insurgents near Ramadi in eastern Iraq. However, eyewitnesses maintain that most of those killed were innocent civilians, and photographs released show locals burying at least 18 children, including infants. (BBC), (LA Times)
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel bans Palestinians from travelling throughout the West Bank and cuts off contact with the Palestinian Authority. (BBC)
• Jens Stoltenberg takes over as the Prime Minister of Norway after Kjell Magne Bondevik. In Stoltenberg's majority coalition government, ten ministers represent the PMs own party, the Norwegian Labour Party (Ap), five come from the Socialist Left Party (SV), and four from the Centre Party (Sp). Nine of the nineteen ministers ar