1/ 1/05 Saturday
Military helicopters ferried disaster supplies into South Asia
today as a U.S. delegation prepared for its trip to the region to
get a close-up look at the devastation and determine what more this
country can do to help. "The carnage is of a scale that defies
comprehension," President Bush, giving his weekly radio address,
said of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis that have killed
more than 123,000 people.
Desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami ravaged island of
Sumatra mobbed American helicopters carrying aid as the U.S.
military launched its largest operation in the region since the
Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors
across the disaster zone. From dawn until sunset, 12 Seahawk
helicopters shuttled supplies and advance teams from offshore naval
vessels while reconnaissance aircraft brought back information.
A day after President Bush upped the U.S. pledge to $350 million,
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced that his
country would contribute up to $500 million to relief efforts. The
increased aid came as a deluge from the skies deepened the misery
for tsunami-stricken areas, triggering flash floods in Sri Lanka,
prompting evacuees to flee and increasing the threat of deadly
disease. A magnitude 5.9 aftershock jolted Sumatra.
Al-Qaida's arm in Iraq released a video showing its militants
lining up five captured Iraqi security officers and executing them
in the street, the latest move in a campaign to intimidate Iraqis
and target those who collaborate with U.S.-led forces. Also, a
U.S. soldier belonging to the Task Force Baghdad was killed and
another was wounded in a roadside explosion north of the capital,
the military said.
1/ 2/05 Sunday
Indonesia increased its death toll from last week's devastating
earthquake and tsunamis to 94,081, raising the total number of
people reported killed in 11 countries in the Indian Ocean basin to
at least 137,321. Aid agencies have said the death toll was
expected to hit 150,000. A Sumatran fisherman was discovered
barely alive under his beached boat - the first survivor found in
three days- but with tens of thousands still missing.
Insurgents exposed the vulnerability of Iraq's security forces
again today, killing at least 22 national guardsmen and their
driver in a suicide bombing and 10 other people in separate attacks
with elections just weeks away. Prominent Shiite leaders called
for unity with Sunni Arabs wanting to delay the vote but insisted
it be held despite the violence. Also, the U.S. military sent new
forces to counter the threat in Mosul, center of a worrying rise in
car bombings and raids.
More than 100 US Airways executives and other employees volunteered
to serve coffee and snacks, sort and move bags and help passengers
find their way today at Philadelphia International Airport to try
to avoid a repeat of the bankrupt carrier's Christmas weekend
debacle. The airline reported no problems by late this afternoon,
when about half the day's expected 38,000 passengers had boarded
their flights or claimed their bags. The volume was comparable
with that of Christmas.
1/ 3/05 Monday
President Bush enlisted two former presidents for an ambitious
private fund raising drive for victims of the deadly tsunami,
asking Americans to open their wallets to help the millions left
homeless, hungry and injured. "The devastation in the region
defies comprehension," Bush said as he announced the campaign to be
led by his father and Bill Clinton. "I ask every American to
contribute as they are able to do so."
U.S. helicopters rescued dozens of desperate and weak tsunami
survivors, including a young girl clutching a stuffed Snoopy dog,
as the American military relief operation reached out to remote
areas of Indonesia with cartons of food and water today. Although
the United States was not among the first at the scene after last
week's natural disaster thousands of miles from American shores, it
is now spearheading the international relief effort.
Insurgents pressed their bloody campaign to sabotage Iraq's Jan. 30
elections with three car bombs and a roadside attack, one near the
prime minister's party headquarters in Baghdad and others targeting
Iraqi troops and a U.S. security company. At least 16 people were
killed, bringing the toll over two days to about 50 and emphasizing
how poorly prepared Iraqi's interim government is to provide
security before the vote.
1/ 4/05 Tuesday
Haggard and dehydrated survivors of Asia's tsunami catastrophe
flooded hospitals in the disaster zone today, posing a new
challenge for the global relief operation. A 5.8-magnitude quake,
the latest of numerous aftershocks stemming from the monstrous
temblor that spawned the tsunami, rattled India's Andaman Islands.
There were no immediate reports of further injury or damage on the
islands, which were hard hit by the killer waves.
From antibiotics to clothes to cash - lots of it - U.S.-based
relief groups report an overwhelming response from donors moved by
the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami, with more than $200
million raised as of today. One charity said online pledges were
coming in at the rate of $100,000 an hour. Donors contributing to
what one official called a "tidal wave of generosity" ranged from
actress Sandra Bullock, who gave $1 million, to 3-year-old Antonio
Cabrera, who joined his brothers in dropping off cash-filled
sandwich bags at the American Red Cross office in Denver.
The governor of the Baghdad region, known for cooperating closely
with American troops, was assassinated along with six bodyguards as
he drove to work in yet another bloody day of insurgent attacks
that exposed grave security flaws in Iraq with elections less than
a month away. Other assaults today killed five American troops as
well as eight Iraqi commandos and two civilians, bringing the death
toll in the last three days to more than 70. Despite the violence,
which U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces have been helpless to
prevent, American and Iraqi leaders insist the Jan. 30 vote would
go forward.
1/ 5/05 Wednesday
World leaders opened an emergency summit with a moment of silence
for the tens of thousands of tsunami victims, before focusing on
the best way to rush nearly $4 billion pledged worldwide to
millions of survivors. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the
gathering that the world was in a race against time to get food,
medicine and supplies to the neediest.
A suicide attacker blew up an explosives-laden car outside a police
academy south of Baghdad during a graduation ceremony, killing 20
people. A second car bomber killed five Iraqi policemen - bringing
the death toll to at least 90 so far this week in surging violence
aimed at derailing this month's elections. Despite the mounting
attacks and death toll, Iraq's interim leader again insisted the
ballot would go ahead as planned.
The Pentagon is sending investigators to Guantanamo Bay to look
into allegations of prisoner abuse described in recently released
FBI documents, authorities said, as a new batch of FBI memos was
released. The U.S. Southern Command in Miami assigned Army Brig.
Gen. John T. Furlow to lead the investigation, which could begin as
early as this week. The military maintains that most incidents
detailed in the FBI memos occurred in 2002 when the prison was just
opening, and that some of the interrogation techniques labeled as
"aggressive" are no longer in use.
A huge storm spread a smear of ice and snow from the Rockies to the
Northeast today, snarling highway and airline traffic, causing
record-low temperatures in the Midwest and snapping power lines
serving tens of thousands of people. Weather-related traffic
deaths included two in Oklahoma and one each in Colorado, Nebraska,
South Dakota and Indiana. The weather also may have been a
contributing factor in a collision that killed another five people
in Oklahoma and two in Michigan.
The Army Reserve, whose part-time soldiers serve in combat and
support roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, is so hampered by misguided
Army policies and practices that it is "rapidly degenerating into a
'broken' force," the Reserve's most senior general says. Lt. Gen.
James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, wrote in an internal
memorandum to the Army's top uniformed officer that the Reserve has
reached the point of being unable to fulfill its missions in Iraq
and Afghanistan and to regenerate its forces for future missions.
1/ 6/05 Thursday
In Jakarta, Indonesia, world leaders wrapped up a one-day summit on
Asia's earthquake and tsunamis, hoping to find the best way to help
victims - and to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again.
Indonesia reported almost 20,000 new deaths, pushing the overall
toll to almost 160,000. Even as more deaths from the initial
effects of the natural disaster were announced, health officials
warned that secondary deaths from hunger or disease would push the
toll higher without a steady supply of aid to the region.
A roadside bomb killed seven U.S. soldiers in northwest Baghdad and
two Marines were killed in western Iraq today, the deadliest day
for American forces since a suicide attack on a U.S. base last
month. The bombing came as Iraq extended a state of emergency by
30 days to battle militants whose attacks have surged ahead of this
month's elections. The prime minister warned the number of
assaults would only rise as voting day draws closer.
Andrea Yates' murder conviction for drowning her children in the
bathtub was overturned by an appeals court because a psychiatrist
for the prosecution gave erroneous testimony that suggested the
Texas mother got the idea from an episode of "Law & Order." The
ruling means Yates is entitled to a new trial, though prosecutors
said they would try to have the conviction reinstated.
The airline industry's relentless drive to slash costs, amid a
backdrop of high fuel prices and low fares, is leaving employees
with a bleak financial outlook. Machinists at US Airways, the
nation's seventh-largest carrier, face pay cuts of up to 35 percent
and the loss of thousands of union jobs after a bankruptcy judge
today - for the first time in U.S. airline industry history -
unilaterally terminated a union collective bargaining agreement.
1/ 7/05 Friday
The official death toll from the Asian tsunami climbed dramatically
to 147,000 and authorities held out little hope for tens of
thousands still missing. Flying over miles of ravaged shoreline, a
shaken U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked: "You wonder where
are the people? What has happened to them?" Indonesia said
searchers found 7,118 more bodies in the shattered coastal town of
Meulaboh, where families picked through piles of rubble. Indian
officials raised that country's toll by 310, most of them killed in
the Andaman and Nicobar islands, where 5,600 were missing and
presumed dead.
Hollywood glamour couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have split,
his publicist confirmed today. "We would like to announce that
after seven years together we have decided to formally separate,"
the couple said in a statement. "For those who follow these sorts
of things, we would like to explain that our separation is not the
result of any speculation reported by the tabloid media," the
actors said.
In Graniteville, S.C., about 5,400 residents within a one-mile
radius of a train wreck that killed at least eight people and
sickened more than 250 were forced to evacuate today after one of
the nation's deadliest toxic chemical spills in years. With one
ruptured tanker continuing to leak deadly chlorine gas and the
possibility of another leak from a second damaged tanker, rescue
workers in protective suits searched for a worker still missing
from the Avondale Mills textile plant. They also went door to door
to find out whether there were any more deaths or injuries.
1/ 8/05 Saturday
Rescue workers pulled thousands more rotting corpses from the mud
and debris of flattened towns along the Sumatran coast today, two
weeks after surging walls of water caused unprecedented destruction
on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The death toll in 11 countries
passed 150,000. Hungry people with haunted expressions were still
emerging from isolated villages on Sumatra island.
The United States military said it dropped a 500-pound bomb on the
wrong house outside the northern city of Mosul today, killing five
people. The man who owned the house said the bomb killed 14
people, and an AP photographer said seven of them were children.
The strike in the town of Aitha, 30 miles south of Mosul, came
hours before a senior U.S. Embassy official in Iraq met with
leaders of the Sunni Arab community to apply political pressure
against their threat to boycott Jan. 30 elections. The Arab
satellite broadcaster al-Jazeera said the Sunnis asked the
Americans to announce a timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
This weekend's election to replace Yasser Arafat has the potential
to usher in the Arab world's first genuine democracy with a
peaceful transfer of power that will augur well for the dream of a
Palestinian state. The new Palestinian president - widely expected
to be Mahmoud Abbas - doesn't have an easy job ahead of him. But
four years of bloody conflict with Israel have deflated
expectations ahead of Sunday's vote. Many Palestinians say they
will settle for simpler achievements: jobs, clean government, an
end to ubiquitous Israeli roadblocks.
About 180 people, including some who spent more than 12 hours stuck
in deep snow in the San Bernardino Mountains, were rescued as the
latest in a series of storms struck California. The storms quickly
moved eastward, closing all three major highways over the Sierra
Nevada. Up to 10 feet was expected over the weekend at the
Sierra's higher elevations, according to the National Weather
Service.
1/ 9/05 Sunday
Mahmoud Abbas declared victory in Palestinian presidential
elections today after exit polls showed him winning by a wide
margin, giving him a decisive mandate to renew peace talks with
Israel, rein in militants and try to end more than four years of
Mideast bloodshed. The victory of the staid and pragmatic Abbas,
who opposes violence and has the backing of the international
community, was expected to usher in a new era, after four decades
of chaotic and corruption riddled rule by Yasser Arafat who died
Nov. 11.
In Indonesia, a U.S. Seahawk helicopter on a relief operation
crashed in a rice paddy near Banda Aceh's airport, injuring all 10
aboard and causing the military to briefly suspend flights. A new
tsunami videotape showed roiling brown water engulfing everything
in its path on a busy Indonesian street. Capt. Kendall L. Card,
the commander of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which is
stationed off the coast of Sumatra island, said over the ship's
loudspeakers that six of the servicemen aboard the aircraft had
been hurt seriously and four had minor injuries.
A videotape shot as a tsunami swept through Indonesia's Aceh
province aired for the first time today and showed a roiling
torrent of dark brown water engulfing a busy street, picking up
cars and minivans and sending people scrambling up the sides of
buildings. The videotape, broadcast by Metro TV - a commercial
channel based in Jakarta, was shot by a cameraman named Hasyim who
normally photographs weddings. He captured a horrific record of
the unfolding Dec. 26 disaster, starting minutes after a giant
undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean toppled buildings and
including a scene hours later showing a long line of corpses
covered with cloth.
In Iraq, U.S. troops opened fire near a checkpoint south of Baghdad
after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb and a hospital
official said at least eight people were killed in the second
American attack in two days to have deadly results. In other
violence today, a U.S. soldier assigned to Task Force Baghdad was
killed by a roadside bomb, while a Marine was killed in action in
the volatile Anbar province.
Areas of the Sierra Nevada, famous for paralyzing amounts of
snowfall, have been hit with a dumping like they haven't seen in
generations, with steep drifts stranding an Amtrak train, knocking
out the Reno airport and shutting down major highways across the
mountains. The string of moisture laden storms has dropped up to
19 feet of snow at elevations above 7,000 feet since Dec. 28 and 6
1/2 feet at lower elevations in the Reno area. Meteorologists said
it was the most snow the Reno/Lake Tahoe area has seen since 1916.
in Juba, Sudan, after years of war and death, residents of the
predominantly Christian southern city danced in the streets today
after rebel and government leaders signed a treaty to end Sudan's
21-year civil war. But caution mixed with joy among many war
scarred residents who worry about the future after the conflict
that killed more than 2 million, mainly through war induced famine
and disease, and displaced 4 million more from their homes.
1/10/05 Monday
A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with
terrifying force today, killing two people and leaving up to 12
missing as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a
fourth straight day. Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob
Roper said as many as a dozen residents were missing in the
mudslide that pummeled a four-block area of homes in tiny La
Conchita, about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Nine people
were injured, including a 60-year-old man who was buried for three
hours.
CBS issued a damning independent review of mistakes related to last
fall's "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National
Guard service and fired three news executives and a producer for
their "myopic zeal" in rushing it on the air. The review said CBS
compounded the damage with a circle-the-wagons mentality once the
report came under fire. The independent investigators added,
however, that they found no evidence of a political bias against
Bush.
A roadside bomb destroyed a second heavily armored Bradley Fighting
Vehicle in less than a week, killing two U.S. soldiers, wounding
four others and indicating that insurgents have increased the power
of the explosives they are using against American troops. The
blast came hours after gunmen in a passing car assassinated
Baghdad's deputy police chief and his son while they drove to work,
part of a campaign to target Iraq's security forces. Al-Qaida in
Iraq, the group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
claimed responsibility.
1/11/05 Tuesday
Rescuers with listening devices sensitive enough to pick up a
whimper or faint tapping searched today for victims feared buried
in a mudslide that sent trees and dirt thundering onto the seaside
hamlet of La Conchita, Calif., killing at least six people. There
was hope of finding survivors because searchers were discovering
spaces under the debris large enough to hold people, Ventura County
Fire Chief Bob Roper said as darkness fell on the rescue effort for
a second night. Authorities said around a dozen people were
missing, and 10 had been injured.
President Bush nominated federal judge Michael Chertoff as the new
homeland security chief today, completing the second-term Cabinet
with a former prosecutor who recently called for a new look at the
tough terrorist detainee laws that he helped craft after the Sept.
11 attacks. Chertoff, who took his seat on the 3rd U.S. Court of
Appeals less than two years ago, is expected to easily win Senate
approval. He has won confirmation three times during his career,
as U.S. attorney in New Jersey, assistant attorney general and
appellate judge.
Violence persisted in Iraq, with at least 16 Iraqis killed in two
bombings and the seizure of trucks carrying new Iraqi coins. A
U.S. soldier was killed in action in Iraq's volatile western Anbar
province, the military said.
1/12/05 Wednesday
The White House acknowledged today that its hunt for Iraqi weapons
of mass destruction - a two-year search costing millions of dollars
- has closed down without finding the stockpiles that President
Bush cited as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
Bush's spokesman said the president had no regrets about invading
Iraq. "Based on what we know today, the president would have taken
the same action because this is about protecting the American
people," said Press Secretary Scott McClellan.
The torrential storm that caused the deadly mudslide in California
is leaving a path of destruction in other Western states, bringing
flooding that has gobbled up houses and roads and forced hundreds
of people to flee. The heaviest flooding was concentrated in the
area where Nevada, Arizona and Utah meet. No serious injuries were
reported, but one man was missing in Utah. A skier was missing for
a third day in the deep snow of rugged western Colorado.
A splintered Supreme Court threw the nation's federal sentencing
system into turmoil today, ruling that the way judges have been
sentencing some 60,000 defendants a year is unconstitutional. In
ordering changes, the court found 5-4 that judges have been
improperly adding time to some criminals' prison stays.
Baseball players and owners have reached an agreement on a tougher
steroid-testing program that will include a penalty for first-time
offenders. A first positive test would result in a suspension of
up to 10 days and the penalties would increase to a one-year
suspension for a fourth positive test, a high-ranking team official
said on condition of anonymity.
1/13/05 Thursday
Health officials plan to go door to door and tent to tent with
mosquito-killing spray guns beginning Friday to head off a looming
threat that one expert says could kill 100,000 more people around
the tsunami disaster zone: malaria. The devastation and heavy
rains are creating conditions for the largest area of mosquito
breeding sites Indonesia has ever seen, said the head of the aid
group anchoring the anti-malaria campaign on Sumatra island. The
pools of salt water created by the Dec. 26 tsunami have been
diluted by seasonal rains into a brackish water that mosquitos
love.
A $170 million computer overhaul intended to give FBI agents and
analysts an instantaneous and paperless way to manage criminal and
terrorism cases is headed back to the drawing board, probably at a
much steeper cost to taxpayers. The FBI is hoping to salvage some
parts of the project, known as Virtual Case File. But officials
acknowledged that it is possible the entire system, designed by
Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego, is so
inadequate and outdated that one will have to be built from
scratch.
Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Andy Garcia and Hugh Grant will be among
dozens of celebrities joining in an NBC Universal TV benefit for
tsunami relief. The program is scheduled to air live at 8 p.m. EST
Saturday on NBC, Telemundo, Pax and various cable channels.
With some of its biggest stars under suspicion and lawmakers
demanding action, Major League Baseball adopted a tougher steroid-
testing program that will suspend first time offenders for 10 days
and randomly test players year-round. The agreement was hailed by
baseball management and its union as a huge step forward but was
criticized by some as not going far enough because the penalties
are less harsh than those in Olympic sports and amphetamines were
not banned.
1/14/05 Friday
A European space probe today sent back the first detailed pictures
of the frozen surface of Saturn's moon Titan, showing stunning
black and white images of what appeared to be hilly terrain riddled
with channels or riverbeds carved by a liquid. One picture, taken
about 10 miles above the surface as the Huygens spacecraft
descended by parachute to a safe landing after a seven-year voyage
from Earth, showed snaking, dark lines cut into the light-colored
surface.
Federal health advisers recommended against over-the-counter sales
of a cholesterol drug, saying that patients need medical guidance
for treatment of a chronic condition that has no symptoms and could
require drugs for life. The safety of Mevacor is well-established,
but advisers worried that the wrong people might take it if it sat
on open drugstore shelves, particularly after a probable aggressive
advertising campaign to sell it.
Authorities released a fierce, brown river of water from a Southern
California dam and evacuated 2,300 people from its path today after
a temporary earthen barrier at the site began seeping water. The
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers unleashed more than 10,000 cubic feet
of water per second to relieve pressure on the dam 50 miles
southeast of Los Angeles.
The Bush administration unveiled a $37.5 million plan to erect a
tsunami warning system designed to protect both the Pacific and
Atlantic coasts by mid-2007. The plan would quadruple the size of
the warning network in the Pacific and erect similar safeguards for
the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf coasts, officials of the White
House science office said. Operating it would cost about $24.5
million a year.
1/15/05 Saturday
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz flew over Sumatra's
tsunami-devastated coast and voiced pride in the American aid
operation. But he said Washington wants to hand over relief work
to Indonesia and other affected nations as soon as possible. The
Indonesians "have welcomed us in a way that might have been
unimaginable in other circumstances," Wolfowitz said aboard the
aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln anchored off the Indonesian
coast.
Mahmoud Abbas extended his hand in peace to Israel as he was sworn
in as the new Palestinian leader today, but the Israeli army
killed eight Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 46 election
officials resigned over alleged ballot irregularities, crushing
optimism for an early resumption of the peace process. The series
of events came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
reversing course, cut all ties with Abbas until he reined in
Palestinian militants, who killed six Israelis during an attack at
a Gaza cargo crossing last week.
Park City, Utah: rescue workers spent all day today digging through
a massive snow pile but found no traces of five people feared dead
in a 300-yard-wide, 500-yard-long avalanche that cascaded down a
Utah mountainside a day earlier. Exactly how many skiers were
buried in the Friday afternoon snow slide remained unclear late
this afternoon.
In California, seepage through a dam had stopped today but most
residents of Corona remained out of their homes in a voluntary,
precautionary evacuation. Although a mandatory evacuation was
canceled, people were being urged to stay away from homes and a
mobile home park until Monday afternoon while the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers released millions of gallons of water to relieve
pressure on the 64-year-old Prado Dam.
1/16/05 Sunday
U.S. troops staged a series of raids in Mosul and elsewhere in
northern and central Iraq today, arresting dozens, while
insurgents stepped up their attacks two weeks ahead of national
elections, ambushing a car carrying a prominent female candidate
and killing 17 people in other assaults. Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz conceded that U.S. and Iraqi forces cannot stop
"extraordinary" intimidation by insurgents before the Jan. 30
vote.
A majority of Americans say they feel hopeful about President
Bush's second term, but those hopes are clouded by doubts about
when the bloodshed in Iraq will end. People say Iraq should be
the president's highest priority, according to an AP poll that
found that those surveyed are not optimistic a stable government
will take hold there.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the army to do whatever was
needed to end Palestinian rocket, mortar and bomb attacks, and the
government dismissed a call by the PLO leadership for a halt to
militant violence, hours before Palestinians claimed Israeli tank
fire had killed a 28-year-old man and his mother in the Gaza
Strip. "Despite the change in the Palestinian leadership, we note
that those at the top have not begun any action whatsoever to halt
the terrorism," Sharon told the Cabinet at its weekly meeting..
"The situation cannot continue."
1/17/05 Monday
Security fears again threatened to hamper tsunami relief efforts
today, with U.N. officials banning aid workers from traveling in
parts of devastated Aceh province following reports that fighting
had broken out between Indonesian government forces and
insurgents. The travel ban also came after Denmark warned its aid
workers to beware of an imminent terror attack - a caution that
prompted U.N. officials to launch an investigation and declare a
state of "heightened awareness" in Aceh, where separatists have
been fighting for an independent state for decades.
President Bush said today he has "a big agenda in mind" for his
second term that begins this week and that four years is going to
be a short time to meet all his goals. "We got to get moving and
get some things done before - before people kind of write me off,"
Bush told CBS News in an interview.
Insurgents kidnapped a Catholic archbishop and targeted security
forces in a series of brazen assaults that killed more than 20
people. A suicide bomber attacked U.S. Marines in Ramadi, where
insurgents also beheaded two Shiite Muslims and left their bodies
on a sidewalk. The top U.S. general in Iraq predicted violence
during the Jan. 30 national election but pledged to do "everything
in our power" to ensure safety of voters. As part of a crackdown
on insurgents, U.S. troops arrested more than 100 suspects over the
past three days, U.S. officials said.
Temperatures plummeted across the eastern half of the nation today,
approaching an all-time record in northern Minnesota and freezing
the Gulf Coast as a river of Arctic air pushed southward.
Thermometers registered a low of 54 degrees below zero at
Embarrass, Minn.
1/18/05 Tuesday
Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice gave no ground in
Senate confirmation questioning today, insisting the United States
was fully prepared for the Iraq war and its aftermath and refusing
to give a timetable for U.S. troops to come home. An American exit
strategy depends on Iraq's ability to defend itself against
terrorists after this month's elections, she said.
President Bush launched his inaugural celebrations today by
thanking two groups that played major roles in his election to a
second term - the military that prosecuted the war in Iraq and his
most ardent and generous political supporters. On the first of
four days of nonstop festivities that some have criticized as too
extravagant amid war, deficits and natural disaster, the president
and first lady Laura Bush crisscrossed Washington into the evening
to hobnob with soldiers, young Republicans and GOP bigwigs.
A suicide bomber struck the Baghdad headquarters of Iraq's biggest
Shiite political party, killing three people, as the government
announced plans to close borders and restrict movements to bolster
security in the national election. Three candidates were slain as
insurgents intensified their campaign to subvert the ballot. The
Cabinet member responsible for internal security urged fellow Sunni
Arabs to disregard threats by Sunni extremists and vote in the Jan.
30 election, in which Iraqis will choose a 275-member National
Assembly and regional legislatures. Otherwise, the minister
warned, the country will slide into civil war.
Airbus put its stamp on aviation history, unveiling the world's
largest commercial jet and raising the stakes in its 35-year
rivalry with Boeing Co. The double- decker A380 "superjumbo,"
capable of flying up to 800 passengers, gives the European plane
maker a new flagship and completes its range of jets at a time when
Boeing is losing market share and reducing some production.
1/19/05 Wednesday
In a city brimming with pageantry under fortress-like security,
President Bush looked ahead today to his second inauguration,
pledging to forge unity in a nation divided by political
differences. "I am eager and ready for the work ahead," Bush
declared. In his inaugural address Thursday, Bush will tell the
country that events and common sense have led him to one
conclusion: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly
depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope
for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the
world."
Condoleezza Rice won strong but not unanimous endorsement as
secretary of state from a Senate panel today, assuring skeptical
Democrats she welcomed debate about the nation's foreign policy
course and wouldn't sugarcoat advice to President Bush. If
confirmed by the full Senate as expected, Rice would be the first
black woman to hold the post. Confirmation had been expected as
soon as Thursday, but Democrats said they wanted more time, at
least until next week.
Cancer has surpassed heart disease as the top killer of Americans
under 85, health officials said today. The good news is that deaths
from both are falling, but improvement has been more dramatic for
heart disease. "It's dropping fast enough that another disease is
eclipsing it," said Dr. Walter Tsou, president of the American
Public Health Association.
1/20/05 Thursday
George Bush embarked on an ambitious second term as president
today, telling a world anxious about war and terrorism that the
United States would not shrink from new confrontations in pursuit
of "the great objective of ending tyranny." Four minutes before
noon, Bush placed his left hand on a family Bible and recited 39
tradition-hallowed words that every president since George
Washington has uttered.
Anti-Bush demonstrators waving signs that said "Worst President
Ever" and "the American Nightmare" jeered the president's motorcade
during the inaugural parade today. The procession of cars sped up
as President Bush neared the designated location for protesters on
Pennsylvania Avenue. Two rows of police lined the street in front
of the main protest site. Officers stationed atop buildings along
the route kept close watch on the crowd.
Iraq's most feared terror leader called on his followers today to
show patience and prepare for a long struggle against the
Americans, promising in an audiotape posted on the Internet that
"ferocious wars ... take their time" but victory was assured.
Elsewhere, U.S. troops launched fresh raids around the northern
city of Mosul, killing five suspected insurgents, in a bid to rein
in guerrillas and safeguard the Jan. 30 national elections. Iraqi
forces sealed off main routes into Baghdad a day after a wave of
deadly car bombings.
Delta Air Lines Inc. blamed high fuel prices, low fares and hefty
charges as it reported the worst annual financial performance in
the industry's history today, culminating with a $2.2 billion
fourth-quarter loss. Continental Airlines Inc. cited similar
difficulties and posted a smaller-than-expected $206 million loss,
bringing cumulative fourth quarter losses reported so far by five
large U.S. airlines to $3.17 billion.
1/21/05 Friday
President Bush turned from inaugural pageantry to a daunting
second-term agenda today while his administration scrambled to
explain his newly declared goal of ending tyranny around the
world. The president's expansive pledge, the major theme of his
inaugural address, raised questions about whether Bush intended to
apply new standards to allies or partners that are not ideal
democracies, or aren't democracies at all. Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
China and other countries fit that description.
President Bush is readying a new budget that would carve savings
from Medicaid and other benefit programs, congressional aides and
lobbyists say, but it is unclear if he will be able to push the
plan through the Republican-run Congress. White House officials
are not saying what Bush's $2.5 trillion 2006 budget will propose
saving from such programs, which comprise the biggest and fastest
growing part.
A snowstorm moving today from Canada into the Great Lakes drew
weather warnings from North Dakota to New Jersey and the Long
Island Sound, with some areas bracing for a foot of snow or more.
The storm blanketed parts of Minnesota this evening, stalling rush-
hour traffic in the Twin Cities and shutting down Interstate 94 and
other highways in western Minnesota because of zero visibility.
Just a single runway of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
was open by 6 p.m., and more than 200 flights were canceled.
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae announced today it was withholding
millions of dollars in bonuses from its top executives as it
continued to come to grips with revelations of serious financial
reporting problems. The nation's biggest backer of home mortgages
announced in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission
that its board of directors had voted to eliminate cash bonuses
that would have been paid for the performance of top executives in
2004. The company said it was also postponing the payment of any
stock awards for last year.
1/22/05 Saturday
Hundreds of airline flights were canceled today and fleets of road
plows were warmed up as a paralyzing snowstorm barreled out of the
Midwest and spread across the Northeast with a potential for up to
20 inches of snow driven by 50 mph wind. Storm warnings were
posted from Wisconsin to New England, where the National Weather
Service posted blizzard warnings in effect through Sunday. By
afternoon, snow was falling across a region stretching from
Wisconsin and Illinois to Virginia and the New England states.
President Bush's inaugural address, with its emphasis on spreading
democracy and eliminating tyranny throughout the world, was not
meant to signal a new direction in U.S. foreign policy nor to
portray America as arrogant, his father said today. "People want
to read a lot into it - that this means new aggression or newly
assertive military forces," former President Bush told reporters
during an informal visit to the White House briefing room. "That's
not what that speech is about. It's about freedom."
The bride's gown was worth more than most American homes. Her
diamond-studded ring cost more than many yachts. But the groom's
hair? Self-styled. Donald Trump married Slovenian model Melania
Knauss today with all the glamour, glitz and gold that money and
star power can buy. Knauss walked down the aisle to "Ave Maria"
and guests broke into applause when the real estate mogul-turned
reality TV star kissed the bride.
1/23/05 Sunday
Johnny Carson, the quick-witted "Tonight Show" host who became a
national institution putting his viewers to bed for 30 years with a
smooth nightcap of celebrity banter and heartland charm, died
today. He was 79. Carson died early this morning, according to
his nephew, Jeff Sotzing. "He was surrounded by his family, whose
loss will be immeasurable," Sotzing told The Associated Press.
A howling blizzard slammed the Northeast today with more than 2
feet of snow and hurricane-strength wind gusts, halting air travel
for thousands of people, keeping others off slippery highways and
burying parked cars under deep drifts. Governors in Massachusetts,
New Jersey and Rhode Island declared states of emergency.
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq acknowledged serious problems ahead of
next weekend's election but gave assurance that "great efforts"
were being made so every Iraqi can vote. In an audiotape posted on
the Web, a speaker claiming to be Iraq's most feared terrorist
declared "fierce war" on democracy, raising the stakes in the
vote. Rebels who have vowed to disrupt the balloting blew up a
designated polling station near Hillah south of Baghdad and stormed
a police station in Ramadi west of the capital, authorities said.
Before a vast crowd of supporters celebrating with a burst of
orange balloons, doves and chants, newly inaugurated President
Viktor Yushchenko promised to steer a new course for Ukraine - away
from corruption and political cronyism and into the European
Union. "Ukraine will stand against all evil," Yushchenko told the
crowd on Kiev's Independence Square, where weeks earlier
demonstrators cried out that he'd been robbed of the presidency by
fraud in a campaign laced with intrigue that even saw the pro-
Western reformer poisoned by a huge dose of dioxin.
1/24/05 Monday
An al-Qaida lieutenant in custody in Iraq has confessed to
masterminding most of the car bombings in Baghdad, including the
bloody 2003 assault on the U.N. headquarters in the capital,
authorities said today. Sami Mohammed Ali Said al-Jaaf, also known
as Abu Omar al-Kurdi, "confessed to building approximately 75
percent of the car bombs used in attacks in Baghdad" since the Iraq
war began, according to the interim Iraqi prime minister's
spokesman, Thaer al-Naqib.
Snowdrifts 6 feet high kept some Massachusetts residents trapped in
their homes and commuters across the Northeast limped back to work
on icy roads and packed trains today as the region struggled to dig
out from a paralyzing weekend blizzard. About 20 deaths were
believed linked to the weather. Massachusetts saw the most snow -
a whopping 38 inches in cities north and south of Boston. As much
as 21 inches of snow blanketed parts of New Jersey, where the
morning commute was crippled by delays of more than an hour.
The Bush administration plans to announce Tuesday it will request
about $80 billion more for this year's costs of fighting wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional aides said today. The request
would push the total provided so far for those wars and for U.S.
efforts against terrorism elsewhere in the world to more than $280
billion since the first money was provided shortly after the Sept.
11, 2001, airliner attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
1/25/05 Tuesday
The White House will project that this year's federal deficit will
hit $427 billion, a senior administration official said today, a
record amount partly driven by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The
official, among three who briefed reporters on condition of
anonymity, said the estimate was a conservative one that assumed
some higher spending than other analysts use. Last February, the
White House projected that the 2004 shortfall would hit $521
billion, only to see it come in at $412 billion.
An American kidnapped in November pleaded for his life in a video
aired today, and at least a dozen Iraqis died in Baghdad as
political violence continued to plague the country five days before
Sunday's crucial elections for a new National Assembly. On a day
the U.S. military announced that six American soldiers died, Iraqi
police engaged in fierce shootouts with insurgents, including
gunmen who were handing out leaflets warning Iraqis not to vote or
risk seeing their families' blood "wash the streets of Baghdad."
1/26/05 Wednesday
A U.S. helicopter crashed in a desert sandstorm in the early
morning darkness today, killing the 30 Marines and one Navy sailor
aboard. Six other troops died in insurgent ambushes in the
deadliest day for Americans since the Iraq war began nearly two
years ago. Only days before Iraq's crucial elections Sunday,
militants set off at least eight car bombings that killed 13 people
and injured 40 others, including 11 Americans. The guerrillas also
carried out a string of attacks nationwide against schools that
will serve as polling centers.
President Bush pleaded for Americans' patience on what he conceded
was "a very discouraging day" of death and violence for U.S. troops
in Iraq. He urged Iraqis to defy terrorist threats and vote in
Sunday's elections. Bush held a White House news conference hours
after more than 30 American troops perished in a helicopter crash
in western Iraq and insurgents killed five others in the deadliest
day yet for U.S. forces. The deaths pushed the American toll above
1,400.
In Glendale, Calif., a suicidal man parked his SUV on the railroad
tracks and set off a crash of two commuter trains today that hurled
passengers down the aisles and turned rail cars into smoking,
twisted heaps of steel, authorities said. At least 11 people were
killed and more than 180 injured. The SUV driver got out at the
last moment and survived.
Condoleezza Rice won confirmation as secretary of state today
despite blistering criticism from Senate Democrats who accused her
of misleading statements and said she must share the blame for
mistakes and war deaths in Iraq. The tally, though one-sided at
85-13, was still the largest "no" vote against any secretary of
state nominee since 1825.
President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries not to hire
columnists to promote administration agendas after disclosure that
a second writer had been paid to assist an agency. "All our
Cabinet secretaries must realize that we will not be paying
commentators to advance our agenda," Bush said at a news
conference. "Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two
feet." The president said he expects his agency heads will "make
sure that that practice doesn't go forward."
1/27/05 Thursday
Insurgents stepped up attacks today against polling centers across
Iraq, killing at least a dozen people, including a U.S. Marine, in
the rebel campaign to frighten Iraqis away from participating in
this weekend's election. As part of an intensifying campaign of
intimidation, an al-Qaida affiliate led by Jordanian terror
mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted a videotape on the Internet
showing the murder of a candidate from the party of interim Prime
Minister Ayad Allawi.
Condoleezza Rice worked the phones on her first day on the job as
America's top diplomat today, reaching out to European allies and
partners in the war on terrorism and echoing President Bush's
inaugural charge to promote liberty across the globe. "The
president has set forth a really bold agenda for American foreign
policy," Rice said in a brief address to State Department employees
who applauded as she entered the lobby. "I can't think of a better
call than to say that America will stand for freedom and for
liberty, that America will stand with those who want their
aspirations met for liberty and freedom."
Snowflakes swirled around the crematoriums and barbed wire of
Auschwitz, and a shrill train whistle pierced the silence as frail
survivors and humbled world leaders remembered the victims of the
Holocaust today, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi
death camp. Candles flickered in the darkening winter gloom of the
sprawling site, which Israeli President Moshe Katsav called "the
capital of the kingdom of death."
1/28/05 Friday
Condoleezza Rice was offically sworn in for her job as U.S.
Secretary of State.
In Iraq: 150,000 U.S. troops are present; seven were killed today,
5 in combat and 2 in a small observation heliocopter accident; the
interim government has many securities on the country for the up-
coming so-called first free Iraq election in fifty years - the
borders are more patroled; in many towns, auto traffic is banned;
most pundits think much hinges on the election. But this was heard
of the capture of Saddam Hussein, last spring's turnover to the
Iraq interim government, and many other supposedly watershed
moments of the Iraq war - but the war goes on, the insurgent
terrorists keep onto their activities and peace in Iraq seems a
thing to be only in the far future.
1/29/05 Saturday
In Iraq, insurgents made good on threats of violence with a suicide
bombing at a polling station and mortar attacks in several cities.
Casting his vote, President Ghazi al-Yawer called it Iraq's first
step "toward joining the free world." Police say the suicide bomb
attack in western Baghdad killed one policemen and wounded several
people. Heavy explosions and a series of mortar attacks broke out
across Baghdad, and in several other cities, including Baquoba,
Basra and Mosul, less than two hours after voting began.
The White House is keenly watching the Iraqi election because it
could affect U.S. military action there and sap President Bush's
political strength here and abroad if the balloting doesn't lead to
stability. Bush had sought to declare victory before the polls
even opened in Iraq on Sunday by arguing that just the fact that
Iraqis are voting means success. The election "will add to the
momentum of democracy," Bush said today in his weekly radio
address.
Freezing rain and sleet coated parts of the Southeast with a layer
of ice today, canceling hundreds of airline flights, knocking out
power to thousands of customers and shutting down sections of every
interstate highway in the metro Atlanta area. Three weather
related traffic deaths were reported, two in Georgia and one in
South Carolina, police said.
1/30/05 Sunday
Iraqis embraced democracy in large numbers today, standing in long
lines to vote in defiance of mortar attacks, suicide bombers and
boycott calls. Pushed in wheelchairs or carts if they couldn't
walk, the elderly, the young and women in veils cast ballots in
Iraq's first free election in a half-century. "We broke a barrier
of fear," said Mijm Towirish, an election official.
President Bush called today's elections in Iraq a success and
promised the United States will continue trying to prepare Iraqis
to secure their own country. "The world is hearing the voice of
freedom from the center of the Middle East," Bush told reporters at
the White House today, four hours after the polls closed. He did
not take questions after his three-minute statement.
A British C-130 military transport plane crashed north of Baghdad,
scattering wreckage over a large area, officials said. At least 10
troops were killed, Britain's Press Association news agency said.
The crash occurred at around 5:25 p.m. about 20 miles northwest of
Baghdad, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said.
About 102,000 customers had no electricity today in Georgia while
crews worked to repair power lines snapped by an ice storm, and in
Atlanta, the airport reopened all its runways as temperatures rose
above freezing. Two traffic deaths in Georgia and one in South
Carolina were blamed on the storm that spread sleet and freezing
rain across parts of the Southeast on Saturday.
1/31/05 Monday
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi urged Iraqis today to unite behind
democracy in the wake of the country's historic elections, but al-
Qaida's arm in Iraq vowed to press ahead with its "holy war"
despite its failure to stop the voting by millions of Iraqis.
Partial results could be released as early as Tuesday, though final
results from the hand counting of ballots could take up to 10 days,
election officials said. U.S. soldiers stood guard and election
workers cheered as trucks loaded with the first batch of ballots
from the provinces rolled into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green
Zone for the next phase of the count.
Dressed in a bright white suit and a jewel-trimmed vest and belt,
Michael Jackson today stood before the first group of prospective
jurors who could decide his fate on charges he molested a teenage
cancer patient and plied the boy with alcohol at his Neverland
Ranch. The pop superstar, accompanied by four defense lawyers,
stood and smiled as he faced prospective jurors for the start of
jury selection in what could become the most sensational celebrity
trial the world has ever seen. He greeted the clerk with a
handshake at the courthouse in this small city in central
California about 15 miles from the coast.
|