| |
| 2005 |
| January 4th |
 |
In
Iraq, the Governor of Baghdad Ali Al-Haidri was assassinated
by gunmen. |
|
| January 9th |
|
The
Palestinian Presidential election. Voters elected PLO chairman
Mahmoud Abbas as their new President of the Palestinian Authority
to replace Yasser Arafat. |
|
| January
12th |
|
In
the United States, 'Deep Impact' was launched from Kennedy Space
Center by a Delta 2 rocket. |
|
| January 13th |
|
Armed
militants entered into Israel from Gaza and opened fire near
the border. 6 people killed and 5 others wounded. Hamas and
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed joint responsibility for attack.
Confirmation. |
|
| January
14th |
|
The
European Space Agency (ESA) Huygens probe landed on Titan, largest
moon of Saturn, near the Xanadu region. |
|
| January 16th |
|
In
Bucharest, Romania, Adriana Iliescu gave birth to a girl, Eliza
Maria, at the age of 66, which made her the oldest woman in
the world to do so. The child was not her biological child,
the ovum and the sperm was from an anonymous donor. Iliescu
was more of a surrogate mother. |
|
| January 16th |
|
In
the Gaza Strip, armed militants killed 1 and wounded 8 people
in the Gush Katif settlement. The terror group Hamas claimed
responsibility. |
|
| January 20th |
|
In
the United States, President George W. Bush Jr. was inaugurated
in Washington D.C. It signalled President Bush's start of his
second term as the 43rd President of the United States of America. |
|
| January 23rd |
|
In
the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as the third President
of Ukraine in Kiev. |
|
| January 25th |
|
In
India, a stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi
during a religious pilgrimage killed at least 215, mostly women
and children. |
|
| January 29th |
|
In
Iraq, the first elections were held, in a post Saddam Hussein
Iraq, in half a century. An estimated 60% turnout, with 44 dead
and 112 injuried marked the historic day. |
|
| January 30th |
|
A
British Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane crashed
in Iraq, which killed 10 British servicemen. Iraqi insurgents
released a video and claimed to have shot the aircraft down
using a missile. |
|
| February
7th |
|
Ellen
MacArthur completed her successful solo record breaking attempt
to circumnavigate the world in her multi-hull trimaran. The
voyage lasted 71 days, 14 days, 18 hours and 33 seconds. |
|
| February
9th |
|
In
Spain, an ETA car bomb injured 31 people at a conference centre
in Madrid. |
|
| February
10th |
|
North
Korea announced that it possessed nuclear weapons as a protection
against the hostility it felt from the United States. |
|
| February
10th |
|
Saudi
Arabia held its first ever elections for municipal authorities,
in which only men were allowed to vote. |
|
| February
14th |
|
In
Lebanon, a massive suicide bomb blast in central Beirut killed
Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri and at least 15
other people. At least 135 other people were also hurt. |
|
| February
14th |
|
In
Iran, around 59 were killed and 200 people injured in a fire
at a mosque in Tehran. |
|
| February
16th |
|
The
Kyoto Protocol came into effect, without the support of the
United States and Australia. |
|
| February
19th |
|
In
Iraq, suicide bombers killed more than 30 people, as Shia Muslims
mark Ashura, their holiest day. |
|
| February
22nd |
|
In
Iran, more than 500 people were killed and over 1,000 injured
after entire villages were flattened in an earthquake measuring
6.4 in the Zarand region of the Kerman province in southern
Iran. |
|
| February
25th |
|
In
the United States, American police apprehended the BTK serial
killer Dennis Rader 31 years after his first murder. |
|
| February
25th |
|
In
Israel, terrorists killed 5 and wounded 50 people in Tel Aviv.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for attack. |
|
| February
26th |
|
In
Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak asked parliament to amend the
constitution to allow multi-candidate presidential elections
before September 2005. |
|
| March 1st |
|
The
U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional
for juveniles who committed their crimes under age 18. |
|
| March 3rd |
|
American
millionaire Steve Fossett broke a world record by completing
the first non-stop, non-re fueled, solo flight around the world
in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. |
|
| March 10th |
|
Tung
Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, resigned. |
|
| March 11th |
|
In
Britain, the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005
was finally given Royal Assent after one of the longest ever
sittings by the House of Lords. |
|
| March 14th |
|
The
People's Republic of China ratified an anti-secession law aimed
at preventing Taiwan from declaring independence. |
|
| March 14th |
|
In
Lebanon, a million people gathered for an opposition rally in
Beirut, a month after the death of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri. |
|
| March 16th |
|
Ripudaman
Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty on
all counts of the bombing of the Air India Flight 182 in 1985. |
|
| March 19th |
|
In
Qatar, a suspected suicide bomber in Doha, which killed 1 and
injured 12 other people. |
|
| March 19th |
|
In
Pakistan, a time bomb exploded in a Muslim shrine in Quetta,
south west of the county. The blast killed 9 and 40 injured
people. |
|
| March 21st |
|
In
the United States, 10 people were killed in the Red Lake High
School massacre in Minnesota, the worse school shooting since
the Columbine High School massacre. |
|
| March 23rd |
|
The
United States' 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' in a 2 to 1 decision,
refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding
tube. |
|
| March 24th |
|
The
Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan reached its climax with the overthrow
of President Askar Akayev. |
|
| March 26th |
|
The
Taiwanese government called on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate
in Taipei in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of Mainland
China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attended the walk. |
|
| March 28th |
|
A
Sumatran earthquake struck off Sumatra, 3 months after the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake. At a magnitude of 8.7 it was the second
largest earthquake since 1965. |
|
| April 2nd |
|
Karol
Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) died aged 84 at the Vatican, Rome
(19.37 GMT). Pope John Paul II, religious leader to over a billion
Catholics in the world, became the first Polish Pope, and the
third longest serving Pope in history. |
|
| April 6th |
|
King
Rainier III of Monaco died and was succeeded by his son Prince
Albert, who was crowned King Albert II. |
|
| April 7th |
|
In
Britain, MG Rover, the UK's sole remaining volume car producer
went into receivership after a planned alliance with the Chinese
manufacturer, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation collapsed. |
|
| April 7th |
|
In
Egypt, a suicide bomber attacked Cairo's Khan al Khalili market,
2 foreign tourists were killed and 17 others injured. A group
called the "Islamic Pride Brigades" claimed responsibility. |
|
| April 9th |
|
In
Iraq, tens of thousands of demonstrators in Baghdad, many of
them supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, denounced the U.S.
occupation of Iraq, two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein
and rallied in the square where his statue was toppled in April
9th 2003. |
|
| April 9th |
|
The
marriage of The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles took
place, after being briefly postponed after the Pope's death.
Camilla assumed the titles Her Royal Highness and The Duchess
of Cornwall. |
|
| April 15th |
|
In
France, a devastating fire at a hotel in central Paris killed
at least 21 people and fifty people were injured. |
|
| April 17th |
|
In
Switzerland a bus carrying twenty seven people plunged 656 feet
into a ravine and killed twelve holidaymakers. |
|
| April 19th |
|
In
Italy, within the Vatican City, Joseph Ratzinger was elected
Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave. |
|
| April 21st |
|
In
Saudi Arabia, a gunfight on the edge of the Saudi city of Mecca
between the police and militants ended with two militants killed
and two members of the security forces. |
|
| April 23rd |
|
In
Italy, the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, reformed
the government after its dissolution three days earlier. |
|
| April 23rd |
|
English
actor Sir John Mills died. Well respected actor of the stage
and film, and featured on many World War II epics. |
|
| April 25th |
|
In
Japan, a passenger train derailed in Amagasaki Hyogo Prefecture,
and killed 107 and injured another 456 people. |
|
| April 26th |
|
Facing
international pressure, Syria withdrew the last of its 14,000
troops from its military garrison in Lebanon, and ended its
twenty nine year military domination of that country. |
|
| April 27th |
|
In
France, the Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 made its first
flight from Toulouse. |
|
| April 30th |
|
In
Egypt, attacks on tourists in the Egyptian capital of Cairo
left three militants dead and at least ten people injured. |
|
| May 1st |
|
In
Iraq, a suicide attack targeted a Kurdish funeral in the northern
Iraqi town of Talafar, near Mosul, and left at least 25 people
dead and more than 30 others injured. Earlier, at least five
policemen and four civilians were killed in two separate attacks
in Baghdad. |
|
| May 4th |
|
In
Irbil, northern Iraq, one of the largest insurgent attacks in
Iraq to date, where at least 60 people were killed and dozens
wounded in a suicide bombing at a Kurdish police recruitment
center. |
|
| May 5th |
|
The
British people voted in the 2005 general election. The Labour
Party was re-elected with a substantially reduced majority. |
|
| May 5th |
|
In
the United States, two homemade bombs exploded outside the British
consulate in New York. |
|
| May 6th |
|
The
May 5th British General Election saw a third consecutive Labour
Party victory, and Tony Blair the British Prime Minister for
another term. First time that Labour had been returned three
times consecutively. |
|
| May 10th |
|
In
Tbilisi, Georgia, a hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutinian
landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the United States President
George W. Bush Jr. while he was giving a speech to the Tbilisi
crowd, but malfunctioned and did not detonate. |
|
| May 13th |
|
In
eastern Uzbekistan, Uzbek troops killed up to 700 during protests
over the trials of 23 accused Islamic extremists. President
Islam Karimov defended the act. |
|
| May 16th |
|
In
the United States, British MP George Galloway appeared before
a U.S. Senate committee in Washington, to answer allegations
of making money from the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Programme. |
|
| May 17th |
|
In
the Middle-East, Kuwaiti women were granted the right to vote. |
|
| May 25th |
|
In
Turkey, Liverpool F.C. won the UEFA Champions League by defeating
AC Milan. The score at the end of the match was 3-3, but Liverpool
won the match 3-2 in a penalty shootout in Istanbul. |
|
| May 29th |
|
In
France, a French referendum on the European Constitution was
voted by the French people to be rejected. |
|
| May 31st |
|
In
the United States, W. Mark Felt was confirmed to be 'Deep Throat',
with regard to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. |
|
| June 1st |
|
In
Holland, the Dutch referendum on the European Constitution was
voted by the people for it to be rejected, the second country
to do so. |
|
| June 13th |
|
In
the United States, singer and the 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson
was acquitted of all charges of harming children. |
|
| June
21st |
|
Volna
booster rocket carrying the first light sail spacecraft (a joint
Russian-United States project) failed 83 seconds after its launch,
destroying the spacecraft. |
|
| June 28th |
|
In
Portsmouth, England, Queen Elizabeth II conducted the International
Fleet Review of 167 international warships in the Solent, as
part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations. |
|
| July 2nd |
|
Live
8, a series of 10 simultaneous concerts take place throughout
the world, raising interest in the Make Poverty History campaign.
The main event was at Hyde Park In London, England. |
|
| July
4th |
|
NASA's
"Copper bullet" from the 'Deep Impact' spacecraft
hit Comet Tempel 1, which created a crater for scientific studies. |
|
| July 4th |
|
In
Scotland, violent G8 demonstrations occurred at Gleneagles. |
|
| July 6th |
|
The
International Olympic Committee awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics
to London, England. |
|
| July 7th |
|
London
suffered its first suicide bomb attack. Four bombs were exploded
by four British born Muslims, targeting London's transport system.
The attack killed 52 people and injured hundreds more. |
|
| July 7th |
|
Al-Qaeda
admitted to the killing of Egypt's Ambassador, Ihab al-Sherif. |
|
| July 10th |
|
In
Luxembourg, a referendum on the European Constitution was voted
to be accepted. |
|
| July 12th |
|
In
Israel, terrorists killed 5 and injured 90 people in a crowded
mall in Netanya. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for attack. |
|
| July 17 |
|
British
political figure Sir Edward Heath died. Heath was a conservative
MP and served as the party leader and Prime Minister in the
1970s. |
|
| July 21st |
|
A
terrorist attack on London, similar to the July 7th attacks,
included 4 attempted bomb attacks on 3 Underground trains and
a London bus. The bombs failed to explode properly and only
one injury was reported. |
|
| July 22nd |
|
In
London, England, a Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes,
was shot dead at a London underground station by police who
mistakenly took him for a suicide bomber. |
|
| July 24th |
|
In
France, American cyclist Lance Armstrong won a record seventh
straight 'Tours de France' before his scheduled retirement. |
|
| July
26th |
|
NASA's
Space Shuttle 'Discovery' "Return To Flight", mission
STS-114, launched from KSC in Florida. This was the first Space
Shuttle mission in nearly two and a half years since the destruction
of the Columbia shuttle on its return from mission STS-107 in
February 1st 2003. |
|
| July 28th |
|
The
Provisional IRA issued a statement which formally ordered an
end to the armed campaign it had pursued since the start of
'The Troubles' in 1969 and ordered all its units to dump their
arms. |
|
| August 2nd |
|
In
Canada, Air France Flight 358 bursted into flames after it overshot
the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. All the
passengers on board the flight survived. |
|
| August
9th |
|
The
Space Shuttle 'Discovery' returned to Edwards Air Force Base
at 0814 EDT, which completied the mission STS-114 "Return
to Flight". |
|
| August
12th |
|
NASA's
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched. |
|
| August 16th |
|
West
Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashed into a mountain in Venezuela,
152 passengers were killed. |
|
| August 17th |
|
In
the Middle-East, the first forced evacuation of settlers as
part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan began. |
|
| August 18th |
|
In
the United States, the BTK killer Dennis Rader was sentenced
to 10 consecutive life sentences. |
|
| August 18th |
|
Peace
Mission 2005, the first joint China-Russia military exercise,
began its 8-day training on the Shandong peninsula. |
|
| August 23rd |
|
Israel's
unilateral disengagement from 25 Jewish settlements in the Gaza
Strip and West Bank ended. |
|
| August 28th |
|
In
Israel, a terrorist attack wounded 52 at bus station in Beersheba.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for attack. |
|
| August 29th |
|
Hurricane
Katrina hit the Gulf coast of the United States causing severe
destruction. 1,383 people were killed and 80% of New Orleans
was flooded and thousands of people were displaced. |
|
| August 31st |
|
In
Iraq, a stampede crushed people on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in
Baghdad and killed several hundred civilians. |
|
| September
1st |
|
Worldwide
oil prices rose sharply following economic effects of Hurricane
Katrina. |
|
| September
7th |
|
In
Egypt, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak won Egypt's first multi-party
presidential election. |
|
| September
12th |
|
In
England, the English cricket team win the Ashes, with a draw
in the final test match against Australia. |
|
| September
14th |
|
American film director Robert Wise died. Wise was responsible
for such films as 'Day The Earth Stood Still'. |
|
September
14th - 16th |
|
In
the United States, the largest UN World Summit in history was
held in New York City. |
|
| September
18th |
|
Angela
Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union and Gerhard Schröder
of the Social Democratic Party both claimed victory in the German
federal election. |
|
| September
18th |
|
In
Afghanistan the parliamentary elections were held. |
|
| September
19th |
|
North
Korea agreed to stop building nuclear weapons in exchange for
aid and cooperation. |
|
| September
20th |
|
Simon Wiesenthal died. Wiesenthal was imprisoned by the Nazi's
during WWII and survived. He then became well known as an active
hunter of Nazi War criminals. |
|
| September
24th |
|
Hurricane
Rita hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. The 9th Ward section of New Orleans
flooded for the 2nd time in 6 weeks. Other states effected were
Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. |
|
| September
26th |
|
U.S.
army reservist Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury
on six of seven counts in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner
abuse scandal. |
|
| September
30th |
|
Carsten
Juste, editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, published
12 caricatures of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The caricatures
were designed by Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, for a children's
book by Kare Bluitgen on the Koran and the prophet's life. |
|
| September
31st |
|
The sketches of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, published in Denmark,
caused a political and religious storm. The Muslim religion
strictly forbids hand-drawn pictures of any person or animal,
to avoid idol worship, but the caricatures also depict the prophet
as a terrorist. |
|
| October 1st |
|
In
Asia, terrorists struck again in Bali when 26 people were killed
and more than 100 were injured in the 2005 Bali bombings. |
|
| October 4th |
|
Hurricane
Stan hit Mexico and Central America. 1,620 people were reported
killed. |
|
| October 8th |
|
An
7.6 earthquake hit South Asia, the epicentre and worse affected
area was Pakistan. Nearly 87,000 killed and millions made homeless
from the devastating severity of the earthquake. |
|
| October
12th |
|
The
second Chinese human spaceflight Shenzhou 6 was launched, carrying
Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng for five days in orbit. |
|
| October 15th |
|
In
Iraq, the referendum on the new Proposed Iraqi constitution
was held. |
|
| October 16th |
|
US
Helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi in
western Iraq, 70 people were killed. |
|
| October 19th |
|
In
Iraq, the trial of the former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein
began. |
|
| October 19th |
|
Hurricane
Wilma swelled into a Category 5 storm. |
|
| October 20th |
|
Hurricane
Wilma entered the Mexican Caribbean, passed through Cozumel
and then onto the Yucatan Peninsula, and stayed over Cancún
for over 60 hours. |
|
| October 21st |
|
200th
Anniversary of Admiral Nelson's victory in 1805 at the Battle
of Trafalgar, celebrations were held around the United Kingdom. |
|
| October 23rd |
|
In
Brazil a Guns and Ammo Ban Referendum was held. |
|
| October 24th |
|
In
the United States, hurricane Wilma made landfall in the south
west of Florida as a category 3 hurricane. |
|
| October 25th |
|
Rosa
Parks died aged 92. Known as the 'mother' of the civil rights
movement in the United States when she refused to give up her
bus seat to a white man in 1955 and was arrested and jailed
for her act. |
|
| October 26th |
|
In
Iran, at the 'World Without Zionism' conference in Tehran, Iranian
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped
off the map" and condemned the peace process. |
|
| October 26th |
|
In
Iraq, the death toll of U.S. servicemen reached 2,000. |
|
| October 27th |
|
In
France, two teenagers were accidentally electrocuted in Seine-Saint-Denis,
Paris, when chased by police, climbed a wall to hide in a power
substation. The deaths led to widespread riots. |
|
| October 28th |
|
In
the United States, Vice presidential adviser Lewis 'Scooter'
Libby resigned after being charged with obstruction of justice,
perjury and making a false statement in the CIA leak investigation. |
|
| October 30th |
|
Hurricane
Beta hit the coast of Nicaragua. It was the thirteenth hurricane
of 2005, which broke the 1969 record of 12 hurricanes. |
|
| November
8th |
|
In
France, French President Jacques Chirac declared a state of
emergency on the 12th day of the French civil unrest. |
|
| November
12th |
|
The
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan made his first visit
to Iraq since Gulf War II began and urged Iraqis to embrace
a process aimed to reconcile all the country's ethnic and religious
groups. |
|
| November
13th |
|
In
England, Andrew Stimpson, a 25-year old British man was reported
as the first person proven to have been 'cured' of HIV after
several tests. |
|
| November
20th |
|
In
the United States, The Washington Post rebuked journalist Bob
Woodward over his conduct in the CIA leak probe. |
|
| November
21st |
|
In
Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his resignation
from Likud and his intention to form a new party devoted to
peace in the region, Kadima, and asked the President of Israel
to call a general election. |
|
| November
25th |
|
In
London, England, Northern Ireland's favourite son, footballer
George Best died. Best played for Manchester Utd among other
teams. |
|
| November
30th |
|
In
France, surgeons carried out the first human face transplant.
The patient was a French woman who had been mauled by her dog. |
|
| December
2nd |
|
In
the United States, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000th person to
be executed in the USA since the re-introduction of capital
punishment in 1976. |
|
| December
4th |
|
In
Hong Kong, 250,000 people demonstrated for democracy. |
|
| December
6th |
|
An
Iranian C-130 Hercules airplane crashed into a ten-story building
in a civilian area of Tehran, the capital of Iran. The crash
killed 128 people, 94 passengers and 34 residents of the building. |
|
| December
9th |
|
In
London, England, was the last day of service for London's famous
double decker red buses, the Routemaster. |
|
| December
11th |
|
In
England, a Oil Storage Terminal in Hertfordshire, north of London,
caught fire and caused widespread damage. |
|
| December
13th |
|
In
Australia, mass race riots in Sydney involved up to 5,000 youths. |
|
| December
15th |
|
In
Iraq, the first parliamentary elections were held under Iraq's
new constitution. |
|
| December
18th |
|
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was hospitalised after suffering
a minor stroke. He was released from the hospital two days later. |
|
| December
23rd |
|
In
Poland, Lech Kaczynski was sworn in as the new President of
Poland in Warsaw. |
|
| December
23rd |
|
U.S.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced the first in
an expected series of troop withdrawals following Iraqi elections. |
|
| December
24th |
|
Pope
Benedict XVI led his first Christmas Midnight Mass as Pope,
and prayed for peace in the Middle East. |
|
| |
|
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