February 2, 2005

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[edit] February 2, 2005

• Eleven people die in a Baghdad bombing, according to the Al-Zaman newspaper. Of these, eight are policemen or soldiers. (Informed Comment)
• The IRA withdraws its weapons decommissioning offer because of claims that the organisation is connected to a Belfast bank raid last December in which £26.5m was stolen. (Ireland Online) (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (BBC) (BBC)
• President of the United States George W. Bush delivers his 2005 State of the Union address. The section on Social Security reform is booed by some members of Congress, a very rare show of open disdain for the President during such a speech. Transcript (WP)
• A former secret U.S. military investigative report on Guantanamo Bay is revealed to conclude there is no evidence of systemic detainee abuse but cited several cases of questionable physical force documented on videotape. Prisoners released have stated abuse is commonplace, and one former U.S. National Guardsman received brain damage after being beaten while posing undercover as a rowdy detainee. All Freedom of Information Act requests by the ACLU for video and photographs depicting detainee treatment have been denied. (Newsday AP)
• The German Federal Labour Agency reports that the German unemployment rate hit 12.1% in January. More than 5 million people are unemployed today in Germany. Ignoring the margin of error inherent in the usage of different statistical methods over different areas, this rate is the highest since the Great Depression and the Weimar Republic. (BBC World).
• The cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise is announced, marking the end of 18 consecutive years of Star Trek on television. (BBC)
• Jerusalem/Israel: Horst Köhler, President of Germany, has a special audience in the Knesset, the highest chamber of Israel. Speaking in German, he says that Germany has to fight more aggressively against anti-semitism and far-right parties. (BBC World).
• Arab-Israeli Conflict:
  • Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Abu Mazen, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, are invited by Egypt to attend a summit at Sharm el-Sheikh. A Jordanian delegation will also attend. (BBC)
  • Abu Mazen, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, accepts an Iranian invitation to pay an official visit to Tehran. (Reuters)
• King Gyanendra of Nepal forms a new cabinet and names himself as its head. His decision to dismiss his former cabinet has been widely condemned. (Reuters) (BBC)
• Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, announces that a general election will be held March 31. The country's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, has not yet decided whether to participate. (IAfrica) (Reuters)
• The Spanish parliament rejects an appeal from the Basque regional government for more autonomy and a referendum for eventual independence. (Bloomberg) (Reuters AlertNet) (BBC)
• The parliament of Slovenia ratifies the European Union Constitution. (EUobserver) (EurActiv) (BBC)
• In Japan, the first of the former residents of the island of Miyakejima return to the homes they left after a volcanic eruption in 2000. (Reuters AlertNet) (Mainichi Daily News)