September 2006

September 2006

This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on September 2006 is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:

Related Sponsors

BM Pharmacy Generic pharmaceuticals at unbeatable prices. Insomnia, men's health, hair health, pain control. bmpharmacy.com

Online Pharmacy Carisoprodol, tadalafil, sildenafil, vardenafil and more... xlpharmacy.com

MedBasket.com Discreet. Inexpensive. Fast shipping. Great selection. What more can we say? medbasket.com

Frugalmed 2000 reasons to shop with us first. frugalmed.com

Ads by Tiva

September 2006 was marked by a controversy surrounding statements made by Pope Benedict XVI regarding Islam, during the same week as the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Steve Irwin, star of The Crocodile Hunter, died early in the month due to a stingray attack. Meanwhile, the Space Shuttle Atlantis made a mission to the International Space Station and a coup d'état was carried out by the Royal Thai Army, ousting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The following events also occurred during the month:

September 1, 2006 (Friday)

AU officials report that Sudan has launched a major offensive in Darfur, a day after it rejected UNSC Resolution 1706, calling for a new 20,000 UN peacekeeping force. Over 20 people are reported dead and 1,000 displaced in clashes which broke earlier in the week. (AP)
Disputed Mexican election: Deputies and senators of the PRD occupy the stage of Congress and prevent President Vicente Fox from delivering his final State of the Nation speech. Fox later addresses the nation on an all-channel telecast. (Associated Press) (Washington Post)
Category 2 Hurricane John makes landfall near the tip of Baja California at around 7 p.m. PDT (0200 UTC September 2). (U.S. National Hurricane Center) (CBS)
An Iranian passenger jet Tu-154, (Iran Air Flight 945) carrying 148 passengers crashes in Mashad, Iran killing 29 people. (CNN), (BBC)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- The European Union proposes new talks on the Middle East roadmap for peace. (Reuters)
Spain approves plans to deploy 1,100 troops to Lebanon as part of a UN peacekeeping force. (BBC)
The Japanese Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Takao Kitabata, says Japan has enough petroleum reserves to prevent an oil crisis if economic sanctions are imposed on Iran over its nuclear program. Japan is almost entirely dependent on the Middle East for its oil and imports 15 percent of its total oil consumption from Iran. (IranMania)
The 2006 Zakouma elephant slaughter is the latest of a series of massacres which has killed off over 97 percent of the original (the year 1970) Chadian elephant population of 300,000 animals. (National Geographic)
Prime Minister of Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński, calls on the EU to develop a common foreign policy and build a "credible" military force. (Yahoo!)
The Miss World 2006 pageant officially starts with the arrival of 104 nations to Warsaw, Poland for a month of activities across the country prior to the pageant's final on September 30th, 2006. (Times of India)
Famous plastic model kit brand Airfix goes into administration after its parent company Humbrol is unable to produce kits at the Heller owned factory in Trun, N.France after Heller goes into administration

September 2, 2006 (Saturday)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. (Al Jazeera)
In Afghanistan, 14 British armed forces personnel are killed after their aircraft crashes in Kandahar. (BBC)
Offices of at least six Alaska legislators, including Republican Senate President Ben Stevens, son of the senior Republican U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, are raided by federal agents searching for possible ties between the lawmakers and VECO, an Anchorage based company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns. (Yahoo!) (CNN) (New York Times) (Anchorage Daily News)
British police hold 14 men after anti-terrorism raids on locations in south and east London including one restaurant. (Boston Globe), (BBC)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
- Hezbollah sets up armed militias of more than 2,000 children of shahids aged 10-15, training them to sacrifice their lives, an Egyptian weekly reports. (Ynet)
- Italian troops arrive in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Indonesia announces plans to contribute 1,000 troops to the force. (CNN)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
- Donors promise $500m in aid for the Palestinian territories but the UN warns there must be a new peace process too. (BBC)
- A senior Palestinian official calls for an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza and a political solution to the humanitarian crisis. (Al Jazeera)

September 3, 2006 (Sunday)

Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Egyptian daily Al Akhbar reports that three Palestinian terrorists are planning to carry out attacks on Israelis on holiday on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. (Haaretz)
Europe's first lunar probe, SMART-1, successfully crash-lands onto the moon, ending its 16-month mission. (BBC)
Iraqi insurgency
- Mouwaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's National Security Advisor, announces the capture of Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, the second most senior figure in al-Qaeda in Iraq. (CNN)
Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan
- More than 200 Taliban rebel and four Canadian troops die in a major offensive in Kandahar. (CTV)
Kayaking world record
- The Swedish adventurer Lasse Schmidt finishes the first solo crossing of the Baltic Sea in a kayak. The crossing between Sweden and Estonia took three days to complete without sleep.(Documentation and media)

September 4, 2006 (Monday)

A burial cave dating back to the 1st century BC is discovered beneath a high school in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Ynet)
A lone gunman shoots and kills a British tourist and wounds six others in Amman, Jordan. The gunman is arrested, and police are investigating if the gunman belongs to any groups. (Reuters)
Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter", is killed by a stingray while filming a documentary on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. (News.com.au), (Reuters)
The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) discovers the 44th Mersenne prime. It was verified on September 11. (MathWorld News)

September 5, 2006 (Tuesday)

Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan
- More than 50 Taliban insurgents are killed in the ongoing Operation Medusa. (CNN)
Felipe Calderón of the PAN is declared the winner of Mexico's 2 July presidential election. (BBC)
Bill Ford steps down from his position as CEO of Ford Motor Company. He is replaced by Alan Mulally, the former executive vice president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airlines. Bill Ford will remain chairman. (USA Today)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
- The Turkish Parliament votes to authorize the Turkish government to send troops to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Deputy speaker Nevzat Pakdil said 340 of the 533 lawmakers present in the 550-seat house voted for the deployment; 192 voted against and one abstained. (Turkish Press)
- Lebanese troops move into the southern town of Bint Jbeil. (MSNBC)
In Lebanon, a roadside bomb seriously wounds Lt. Col. Samir Shehade, a Lebanese police officer and kills four of his aides. Shehade was involved in the August 2005 arrest of four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals, on suspicion of involvement in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. (Al Jazeera), (AP)
Waziristan War:
- Pakistan has signed a truce with pro-Taliban militants on the Afghanistan border agreeing to withdraw most Pakistani troops in exchange for the militants' promise not to support cross-border violence. (BBC)
Fidel Castro claims that he is recovering well despite losing 18 kg (41 lb) as a result of intestinal surgery. (MSNBC), (Al Jazeera)
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran calls for a purge of liberal and secular professors from the nation's universities. He said: "Today, students should shout at the president and ask why liberal and secular university lecturers are present in the universities." (MSNBC)
President George W. Bush has nominated Mary Peters as United States Secretary of Transportation. (CNN)
One of four existing Aerocar I's (flying cars) is up for sale for US$3.5 million. (Seattle Times)

September 6, 2006 (Wednesday)

The security officers of Georgia arrest nearly 30 members of the opposition political party "Samartlianoba" (Justice) and its satellite organizations on suspicion of plotting a coup against the government. The party, which advocates closer political ties with the Russian Federation, is led by the nation's fugitive security chief Igor Giorgadze who is wanted by Interpol for his alleged involvement in the 1995 attempt on former Georgian President Shevardnadze's life. (BBC)
The United States government announces that fourteen suspected terrorists are to be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and admits that these suspects have been held in CIA black sites. These people include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be 9/11 hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan in March 2002. (BBC)
The Singaporean economy tops a list of 175 economies as the most business-friendly economy in the world in a survey conducted by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation. (CNA) (IFC).
In the United Kingdom junior defense minister Tom Watson and six Parliamentary Private Secretaries (Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole and David Wright) resign over Tony Blair's continuing refusal to declare when he will step down as Prime Minister. (BBC) (Guardian) (This is London)
Japan's Princess Kiko gives birth to a son by caesarean section. The as-yet unnamed boy is the first male heir born to the Japanese Imperial Family in more than 40 years, and will ultimately become Emperor if the current succession laws are unchanged. The child's father, Prince Akishino is the second son of Emperor Akihito. (Japan Times), (Forbes)
Côte d'Ivoire Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny dissolves his Cabinet after toxic waste was dumped in the city of Abidjan, making over 1,500 people ill and killing three. (BBC)

September 7, 2006 (Thursday)

The National Liberation Forces (FNL) signs a ceasefire with Burundi, the last rebel group to enter the peace process to end the Burundi Civil War.(BBC)
Ralph "Bucky" Phillips is the most recent addition to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list following his jail break and suspected shooting of New York State troopers. (FBI)
Ukrainian archaeologists claim they have found underground pyramids near Luhansk that predate the pyramids at Giza. BBC news's Helen Fawkes calls the complex the "Ukrainian Stonehenge." (BBC)
Belgian False Flag Terror arrests: Police in Belgium make arrests at army barracks and soldiers' homes as part of an investigation into suspected far-right terrorists (Bloed-Bodem-Eer en Trouw) operating inside the military. The soldiers were reportedly planning attacks aimed at destabilizing the country. (BBC)
The U.S. military prohibits cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment for "unlawful combatants" in a sweeping revision of DoD Directive 2310. (Wash. Post) (Wash. Times)
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
- Israel says it will lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon. (BBC)
Tony Blair announces that he will step down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom within 12 months but declines to give an exact date for his departure. (BBC)

September 8, 2006 (Friday)

Australian motor racing legend Peter Brock has been killed in a crash while taking part in the Targa West rally in Western Australia. (News.com.au)
Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, the most recent addition to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, surrenders to Pennsylvania State Police. He is wanted for shooting three New York State troopers, one of whom died, after he escaped from jail. (The Buffalo News)
Chilean Supreme Court lifts Augusto Pinochet's immunity concerning the Villa Grimaldi case. (BBC).
The non-governmental organization Freedom House ranks Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as the worst violators of human rights. FH also cited Tibet and Chechnya as areas of intense repression. (Payvand)
The United States Senate states there is no evidence of formal links between Iraqi ex-leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq prior to the 2003 Iraq War. (BBC)
Missing United States Air Force officer Major Jill Metzger who disappeared in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan earlier this week is found in good health. Metzger says she was kidnapped by three men and a woman. (CBS)
Shuji Nakamura is awarded the 2nd Millennium Technology Prize for his work on blue and white LEDs. The first recipient of the award was Tim Berners-Lee, developer of the World Wide Web. (BBC)
A series of bomb blasts rock Malegaon town in Nashik district of the Indian state of Maharashtra, killing 37 and injuring around 100. (Bloomberg)
Zimbabwe has failed to keep its promise to build new homes for the thousands whose houses were demolished last year during Operation Murambatsvina. (BBC)
Taliban insurgency: A suicide car bomb explodes near the United States embassy in Kabul, killing at least ten people. (Boston Herald) (CNN)

September 9, 2006 (Saturday)

BBC's The Proms 'Last Night at the Proms' took place at Royal Albert Hall in London. The proms were simulcasted to cities across the United Kingdom like Glasgow, Swansea, Belfast, Manchester and London Hyde Park. More than 100,000 people attended the festival in London and elsewhere. The proms are currently in their 112th season. (BBC News)
Tens of thousands of protesters begin their anticorruption protests, "Million Voices Against Corruption, President Chen Must Go", against President Chen Shui-bian in Taipei, Taiwan. (Associated Press via Washington Post), (BBC)
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin STS-115. (CNN.com)
A 4.4 magnitude earthquake affects Israel and the West Bank. No injuries are reported. (Reuters)
Taliban insurgency (Operation Medusa):
- NATO-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 40 more Taliban rebels in the ongoing offensive in the south. (BBC)
The Sri Lankan Army says that 28 soldiers were killed and 119 were wounded while battling the Tamil Tiger rebels in Jaffna. The deaths of nearly 150 Tamil Tigers were also reported. (CNN)

September 10, 2006 (Sunday)

A lengthy statement from al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks calls on Muslims to step up their resistance against the United States. (CNN)
Taufa'ahau Tupou IV, the King of Tonga, dies at the age of 88 in an Auckland, New Zealand hospital after battling illness. (BBC)
Roger Federer wins the U.S. Open defeating Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. (Fox Sports)
Taliban insurgency (Operation Medusa):
- NATO and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in intense overnight clashes in southern Afghanistan, the military alliance says. (BBC)
Hurricane Florence forces hurricane warnings for Bermuda as it threatens the island with rain of 13 to 20 cm (5 to 8 inches). Florence is also expected to become a Category 2 hurricane prior to affecting the island. (CNN), (National Hurricane Center)
The most successful driver in Formula One history, German Michael Schumacher, announces his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2006 season. (BBC)

September 11, 2006 (Monday)

The 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement begins in Havana, Cuba. (Official Site)
India celebrates a day of peace: the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of peaceful resistance - satyagraha. On September 11, 1906, Gandhi called on his compatriots to use non-violent means to disobey the law, and thousands of Indians were jailed, including Gandhi, for refusing to cooperate and burning their identity booklets. (CTV.ca)
American President George W. Bush states that the war against terrorism is "the calling of our generation" and urged Americans to put aside differences and fight to victory. (San Francisco Chronicle), (White House - full text)
Tropical Storm Gordon forms in the open Atlantic Ocean with 45 mph winds and is expected to head towards Bermuda. (Associated Press)
U.S. & New York leaders, along with families and friends of those who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks, remember the 5th anniversary of the attacks with speeches and moments of silence. (Forbes/AP)
A new video broadcast shows Al-Qaeda deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issuing a warning about possible future attacks in Israel and the Persian Gulf. (BBC)

September 12, 2006 (Tuesday)

Cypriot authorities respond to an Interpol alert and intercept Grigorio-1, a North Korean ship bound for Syria. Cypriot security agents found a mobile air defense system and the components of a missile launcher in the ship, though the Government of North Korea insists the ship only contained weather-observation equipment. The Syrian government has requested the ship be allowed to dock in Syria. (World Tribune)
Belgian False Flag Terror arrests: A court in Belgium prolongs the custody of 12 suspects in the case against a neo-Nazi group inside the Belgian Army, named Bloed-Bodem-Eer en Trouw (BBET). They are accused of terrorism, weapons traffic, racism and negationism. (Wikinews)
At least 51 people, mostly children, are killed in a stampede in a stadium in Ibb, Yemen, during a campaign rally for President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The children were killed when some of the citizens, who were bused in to hear the president speak, tried to leave. (CNN)
Tom Noe, a rare-coin dealer and fundraiser for the United States Republican Party, is sentenced to two years jail for illegally channelling US$45,000 into President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. (Associated Press)
Norwegian politician Erik Solheim announces that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers have agreed to hold "unconditional peace talks" in October in Oslo. The Sri Lankan government denies ever agreeing to talks without conditions, and criticizes the Government of Norway for violating Sri Lankan sovereignty. (TODAYonline)(TamilNet)
An explosion in Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey kills at least seven people, five of whom were children, and injures 14. (CNN)
Japan's new baby prince is officially named Hisahito. (CNN)
Gunfire and explosions are reported near the U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria, amid reports that the heavily fortified compound has been attacked by armed men. One Syrian guard was killed, and one Chinese diplomat was mildly injured. (The Times)(Reuters)

September 13, 2006 (Wednesday)

The solar system's largest dwarf planet, designated until now as 2003 UB₃₁₃, is officially named "Eris"; its satellite is now known as "Dysnomia".(SpaceRef)
Andrei Kozlov, deputy chairman of Russia's Central Bank, dies hours after being shot. (International Herald Tribune)
Dawson College in Montreal is the scene of a shooting, with preliminary reports indicating at least two killed (one being the gunman) and 20 injured. (CBC)
Imam Zulqarnain Sakandar Madni, the spiritual leader of Norwegian Muslims, accuses the United States Government of masterminding the September 11 attacks and expresses doubt that Osama bin Laden exists, citing the online documentary Loose Change. The U.S. embassy in Oslo issues a statement condemning Madni for "spreading false stories to protect terrorists." Mohammad Hamdan, leader of the Islamic Council in Norway, says Madni's views must be put into context and that it is not important "who is behind it, but how we can fight terrorism and live together in peace." (Aftenposten)
Belgian False Flag Terror arrests: Belgian justice denies Flemish TV VTM’s claims that the neo-Nazi group Bloed, Bodem, Eer en Trouw (BBET), close to the Flemish branch of Blood & Honour, was projecting false flag terrorist operations (although it does accuse the group, which included soldiers, of preparing bombings to "destabilize" the country, and prolonged detention of the suspects on September 12). VTM Flemish TV declared that BBET was preparing itself to kill Filip Dewinter, one of the leaders of the far right Flemish party Vlaams Belang, and to charge the Islamist movement for the assassination. In the ensuing confusion, they would have then assassinated Dyab Abou Jahjah, leader of the European Arab League (Le Soir, (French)Knack, (Dutch)).
The main events leading up to the 61st Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group as part of Singapore 2006 commence in Singapore. (CNA)
NATO members fail to respond to a call from military commanders for reinforcements to try to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, an alliance spokesman said. (CNN)
Sectarian violence in Iraq: The bodies of 65 tortured and executed Iraqi men have been found all over the city of Baghdad. (ABC)
A Japanese economist and ex-professor at the graduate school of Waseda University Kazuhide Uekusa is arrested for molesting a high school girl on a train in Tokyo.(Japundit)

September 14, 2006 (Thursday)

U.S. Senate committee approves a bill to give more rights to "terrorism" detainees. The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agree that signing the bill into law would end a classified CIA interrogation program, which a recent Supreme Court ruling leaves on tenuous ground. (Chicago Sun-Times) (Wash. Times)
U.S. Representative Bob Ney (R-Ohio) has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges related to his dealings with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff according to lawyers and others with knowledge of the investigation. (New York Times News Service)
The International Atomic Energy Agency call a United States House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear capabilities "outrageous and dishonest." (Washington Post)
The United States Department of the Interior’s Inspector General accuses the top officials at the agency of tolerating widespread ethical failures, from cronyism to cover-ups of incompetence. (New York Times)
The Ford Motor Company and the United Automobile Workers union agree on a program that will offer buyouts and other incentives to more than 75,000 Ford workers in the United States to persuade them to leave their jobs. (New York Times)
Amnesty International accuses Hezbollah of war crimes, in its deliberate targeting of civilians in Israel during the recent Israel-Lebanon conflict. (Amnesty)
A partial roof collapse occurred in part of the Mahon Airport terminal building in Minorca, Spain while undergoing renovations/construction work. The collapse may have been caused by a build-up of heavy rain water. The debris temporarily trapped 20 and injured three workers (BBC)
The African Union has endorsed an IGAD peacekeeping operation in Somalia, to be known as IGASOM. (Shabelle.net)

September 15, 2006 (Friday)

The U.S. State Department's annual report on religious freedom criticizes the governments of Uzbekistan, Iran and China for increasing repression while noting improvement in the practices of the governments of Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam. (Voice of America)
Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy: Pope Benedict XVI is criticized throughout the Islamic world for comments he made on September 12, quoting the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391-1425) regarding Muhammad and Islam. Street protests take place in parts of South Asia. (CNN)
Taliban insurgency: The Afghan security forces have retaken a district headquarters in the western Farah province after a short Taliban occupation. (BBC)
Yemen foils two attempts by four suicide bombers to attack two oil refineries, Al Jazeera reports. (Al Jazeera),(Reuters)
Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone becomes new Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti is named new Secretary for Relations with States (foreign minister). At the same time, Angelo Cardinal Sodano retires after sixteen years as Cardinal Secretary of State. [1]
Close to half a million people stage a march in Taipei to demand the resignation of President Chen Shui-Bian. (BBC), (CNN)
UPN network shuts down, marking the first time in 50 years a United States broadcast television network ceased broadcasting.

September 16, 2006 (Saturday)

Winners of the 2006 Lasker Awards for medical research are announced. (Reuters), (laskerfoundation.org)

Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy:
- Pope Benedict XVI's security has increased due to the controversy. (Ynet News)
- Pope Benedict XVI is quoted as saying that he is "very upset" and "sorry" that his comments regarding Islam on Tuesday offended Muslims. (CNN), (BBC)
- Violence erupts when Palestinian militants bombed and engaged in shootings against five churches in the West Bank. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Hurricane Lane strengthens to a Category 3 hurricane with nearly 125 mph winds as it approaches Mexico's Pacific coast. (CNN)
- Hurricane Lane has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane after striking the Pacific coast of Mexico. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Darfur conflict: On the eve of the International Day for Darfur, British Prime Minister Tony Blair insists the government of Sudan must start to "live up to its obligations" towards the war-torn region. (BBC)
Iraq insurgency: Baghdad police find 47 corpses across the city, most bound and shot, thought to be more victims of the ongoing sectarian killing that has been taking place in the region and appears aimed at provoking civil war. (Reuters)
2006 United States E. coli outbreak: Bagged spinach recalled in United States after products linked to at least 94 cases of E. coli in 19 states. (CNN)
A Delta Air Lines flight makes an emergency landing at Shannon Airport in Ireland. The flight was en route to New York from Shannon itself, and had 276 passengers on board. It was reported that there was smoke in the cabin. (RTÉ)

September 17, 2006 (Sunday)

Five basketball players at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are shot on campus after they tried to calm a disturbed man at a dance in the Student Union. Three of the five are hospitalized, with one in critical condition. (ESPN)
Recent expeditions by Conservation International and the government of Indonesia revealed a "Lost World" of nearly 60 new species near Bird's Head Seascape of the Coral Triangle. The species include a "walking shark", 20 new corals, 8 shrimp species, and 24 new fish species including one that can "flash" colors. (ABC)
The Associated Press claims that Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer and Iraqi citizen, has been held for five months in a United States military prison without charges against him. AP claims they tried to have Hussein released quietly, but when that failed, they went public. (MSNBC)
- Pope Benedict XVI states that he is "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction from his comments and says that his remarks came from a text that didn't reflect his personal opinion.