8/ 1/05 Monday
Benchmark crude oil futures were near record closing levels today,
lingering around $61.57 a barrel as traders worried about future
oil production from Saudi Arabia after the death of King Fahd. In
Singapore, light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange
was down 7 cents to $61.50 a barrel for the front-month September
contracts. It had risen a dollar to close at $61.57 following news
of Fahd's passing and had risen to an intraday high of $62.30 a
barrel in New York floor trading.
President Bush installed embattled nominee John Bolton as
ambassador to the United Nations today, bypassing the Senate after
a testy five-month standoff with Democrats who argued that the
tough-talking conservative was unfit for the job. "This post is
too important to leave vacant any longer, especially during a war
and a vital debate about U.N. reform," Bush said at a White House
ceremony with Bolton and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rafael Palmeiro poked his finger in the air for emphasis and raised
his voice with all the indignation of a man falsely accused. "I
have never used steroids. Period," he told a congressional panel
in March. Today, nearly five months later, the Baltimore Orioles
slugger became baseball's highest-profile player to be suspended 10
days for using steroids.
King Abdullah quickly assumed the Saudi throne today after the
death of his long-ailing half brother, giving a smooth transition
to the leadership of this key U.S. ally and oil giant already
grappling with extremists and debating the need for reform. After
a decade as de facto ruler and the prime mover of recent reforms,
the popular 81-year-old Abdullah is expected to seek to consolidate
his power by bringing more allies into government and perhaps open
the door for younger, more modern princes to play a role.
8/ 2/05 Tuesday
In Toronto, Canada, a jetliner carrying 309 people skidded off a
runway while landing in a thunderstorm today, sliding into a ravine
and breaking into pieces, but remarkably everyone aboard survived
by jumping to safety in the moments before the plane burst into
flames. Twenty-four people suffered minor injuries in the 4:03
p.m. crash landing of Air France Flight 358 from Paris - the first
time an Airbus A340 had crashed in its 13 years of commercial
service.
Seven U.S. Marines were killed in two separate attacks west of
Baghdad, where American forces are trying to seal a major border
infiltration route for foreign fighters, the military said today.
The deaths pushed the U.S. military death toll in Iraq past 1,800.
One of the Marines died Monday in a suicide car bombing in Hit, 85
miles northwest of Baghdad. The other six were killed Monday in
Haditha, 50 miles from Hit - all of them attached to the same
suburban Cleveland unit.
The Big Three U.S. automakers are extending programs that let
customers buy vehicles at employee prices after sales for the
entire industry leaped to near record levels in July, but analysts
warned today automakers could see some payback this fall.
8/ 3/05 Wednesday
Fourteen U.S. Marines were killed today when a huge bomb destroyed
their lightly armored vehicle, hurling it into the air in a giant
fireball in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American
forces in the Iraq war. A civilian translator also was killed and
one Marine was wounded. The victims were from the same Ohio-based
Reserve unit as five of six members of a Marine sniper team killed
on Monday in an ambush claimed by the Islamic extremist Ansar al-
Sunnah Army.
With a gentle tug of his gloved right hand, Discovery astronaut
Stephen Robinson removed two worrisome pieces of filler material
from the shuttle's belly today in an unprecedented space repair job
that drew a big sigh of relief from NASA.
South Korea's pioneering stem cell scientist has cloned a dog,
smashing another biological barrier and reigniting a fierce ethical
debate - while producing a perky, lovable puppy. The researchers,
led by Hwang Woo-suk, insist they cloned an Afghan hound, a
resplendent supermodel in a world of mutts, only to help
investigate human disease, including the possibility of cloning
stem cells for treatment purposes.
8/ 4/05 Thursday
President Bush, facing a grim and growing death toll in Iraq, said
today that threats of more violence by al-Qaida's second-in-command
would not intimidate the United States into retreat. At the same
time, the U.S. military said in Iraq that four more service members
had been killed in action but also insisted American troops were
making progress against insurgents.
After much soul-searching and analysis, NASA cleared Discovery to
return to Earth next week, concluding today that there was no need
to send the astronauts out on another spacewalk to repair a torn
thermal blanket near a cockpit window. Mission managers could not
guarantee that a piece of the blanket won't rip off during re-entry
and slam into the spacecraft, but they said the chance of that
happening was remote and that it would be riskier to try to fix the
problem.
A 19-year-old Israeli soldier opened fire inside a bus today,
killing four Israeli Arabs in the deadliest attack on Arabs in
Israel by a Jewish extremist since 1990. An angry crowd then
killed the gunman. Thirteen people, including bus passengers and
two policemen, were wounded in the shooting, which appeared linked
to tensions over the upcoming Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip
and parts of the West Bank.
8/ 5/05 Friday
Russian, U.S. and British forces scrambled to rescue seven Russian
sailors trapped with dwindling oxygen supplies 600 feet under the
Pacific on a mini-submarine caught on an underwater antenna. The
commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Adm. Viktor Fyodorov, said
rescuers were hoping to tow the AS-28 naval sub into shallower
waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula and send divers down to the
crewmen who have been trapped in it for two days at a depth of 600
feet. A British military plane and a U.S. Air Force jet carrying
remote-controlled underwater robots took off for the disaster scene
in Russia's Far East, north of Japan.
The Air France jet that skidded off the runway and burst into
flames earlier this week landed farther down the runway than it
should have, but it is too soon to know if that was the reason for
the crash, aviation investigators said today. All 309 people on
board escaped with their lives after Flight 358 from Paris crashed
at Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport Tuesday
afternoon. The flight data and voice recorders were recovered the
next day.
For a brief moment, the trolleys stopped and the city fell silent.
Then, with offerings of water and flowers for the dead, Hiroshima
remembered how a flash in the early morning sky 60 years ago turned
life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the face of
war. Marking the 60th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb
attack, more than 55,000 people gathered in Peace Memorial Park, a
sprawling, tree-covered expanse that for one day each year becomes
the spiritual epicenter of the global anti-nuclear movement.
8/ 6/05 Saturday
Seven submarine crew members trapped for nearly three days under
the Pacific Ocean were rescued after a British remote-controlled
vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled the vessel.
The seven crew members, whose oxygen supplies had been dwindling
amid underwater temperatures in the mid-40s, appeared to be in
satisfactory condition, naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.
The seven were being examined by ship medics, he said.
With the most anxiety-ridden part of their flight still to come,
shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven set off for home today
after leaving the international space station. Monday's planned
predawn re-entry will be the first by a space shuttle since
Columbia's catastrophic descent 2 1/2 years ago.
The angry mother of a fallen U.S. soldier staged a protest near
President Bush's ranch today, demanding an accounting from Bush of
how he has conducted the war in Iraq. Supported by more than 50
demonstrators who chanted, "W. killed her son!" Cindy Sheehan told
reporters: "I want to ask the president, 'Why did you kill my son?
What did my son die for?'" Sheehan, 48, didn't get to see Bush,
but did talk about 45 minutes with national security adviser Steve
Hadley and deputy White House chief of staff Joe Hagin, who went
out to hear her concerns.
8/ 7/05 Sunday
Peter Jennings, the suave, Canadian-born broadcaster who delivered
the news to Americans each night in five separate decades, died
today. He was 67. Jennings, who announced in April that he had
lung cancer, died at his New York home, ABC News President David
Westin said late today.
Benjamin Netanyahu stepped down as Israel's finance minister today
in a last-minute protest against next week's Gaza pullout, but his
stunned Cabinet colleagues pushed ahead and approved the first
stage of the withdrawal plan just moments later. Netanyahu, a
hard-liner and former prime minister with ambitions to reclaim the
top job, acknowledged today that he will not be able to stop the
withdrawal. He said he resigned nonetheless because he fears the
pullout will turn Gaza into a "base of Islamic terror" and endanger
Israel.
The seven men endured darkness and frigid temperatures for three
days until their Russian mini-submarine was freed today from the
Pacific floor by a British remote-controlled vehicle as oxygen
supplies dwindled. "It was cold, cold, very cold. I can't even
describe it," one crew member with reddish hair said as the sailors
walked ashore with dazed looks and bloodshot eyes after their
vessel was cut loose from cables that had snagged it.
Flight controllers and others at NASA struggled to push away
thoughts of Columbia's tragic return as Discovery aimed for a
landing before dawn Monday, the first for a shuttle since the 2003
disaster. But two delays because of poor weather dropped hopes for
the landing. The shuttle will try another landing window early
Tuesday morning.
8/ 8/05 Monday
Low clouds kept shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven from making
their much-anticipated return to Earth, and NASA vowed to bring the
spacecraft down Tuesday in Florida, California or possibly even New
Mexico. "We will attempt to land somewhere," flight director LeRoy
Cain said after this morning's two unsuccessful landing
opportunities.
As crude oil prices hit a new high today, President Bush signed the
energy bill that will give billions in tax breaks to encourage
homegrown energy production but won't quickly reduce high gasoline
prices or the nation's dependence on foreign oil. "This bill is
not going to solve our energy challenges overnight," Bush said in a
speech shortly before he signed the 1,724-page bill at the Sandia
National Laboratories. "Most of the serious problems, such as high
gasoline costs or the rising dependence on foreign oil, have
developed over decades. It's going to take years of focused effort
to alleviate those problems."
A Grammy-winning musician and husband of ABC news reporter
Elizabeth Vargas was treated at a hospital and released today
after being shot in the head during an attempted carjacking
following a performance. Marc Cohn, who had a hit with the song
"Walking in Memphis" and won the Grammy for best new artist in
1992, was struck in the temple last night when a man fired into his
band's van in a parking garage. A suspect was being sought.
8/ 9/05 Tuesday
A suicide car bomber struck a U.S. convoy waiting at an
intersection today in Baghdad, killing seven people - including one
American soldier - and wounding more than 90. More than a dozen
others died in scattered attacks across the capital. Also, a U.S.
Marine assigned to the 2nd Marine Division was killed Monday by
small- arms fire in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S.
military said. The deaths brought the number of U.S. service
members killed in Iraq this month to at least 32.
Safely back on Earth, though not quite home. Now the shuttle faces
an uncertain future. Signaling its arrival with two thunderous
sonic booms, Discovery hurtled out of a black desert sky to a
smooth touchdown early today after scrapping four landing attempts
at its Florida base because of rain and lightning. The landing at
a backup site was met with cheers and palpable relief after a tense
two-week mission that raised fears of a Columbia-like disaster.
President Bush voiced concern over soaring energy and health care
costs today, while the Federal Reserve hiked short-term interest
rates to the highest level in nearly four years to guard against
inflation. It was the Fed's 10th interest rate hike in 14 months
to tighten credit and pushed the federal funds rate by one-quarter
percentage point to 3.50 percent.
8/10/05 Wednesday
President Bush opened the gates today for spending a whopping
$286.4 billion on roads and bridges, rail and bus facilities, bike
paths and recreational trails, saying the projects from coast to
coast would spur the economy and save lives. Critics said the
1,000-page transportation bill was weighed down with pet projects
to benefit nearly every member of Congress. The bill's price tag
over six years was $30 billion more than Bush had recommended, but
he said he was proud to sign it.
Nearly a year ago, U.S. forces swarmed through Tal Afar, killing
enough insurgents for the local police chief to declare the city
insurgent-free. Now the militants are back, and the United States
has moved in more soldiers to drive them out. The story of Tal
Afar, an ethnically diverse city located near Camp Sykes and about
40 miles from the Syrian border, underscores the gamble Washington
will be making by turning over large areas of the country to Iraqi
control so U.S. soldiers can begin going home next year.
8/11/05 Thursday
President Bush said today he sympathizes with war protesters like
the mother camped outside his Texas ranch demanding answers for her
solider- son's death, but he said he believes it would be a mistake
to bring U.S. troops home now. Bush said he had "heard the voices
of those saying, `Pull out now.'" And he said, "I've thought about
their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by
pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree."
The U.N. nuclear watchdog expressed "serious concern" today over
Iran's resumption of activities that could lead to an atomic bomb,
and diplomats said Tehran has a Sept. 3 deadline to stop or face
another possible referral to the Security Council. Iran, showing
the defiance it has increasingly displayed since its new president
was inaugurated last weekend, responded with indignation. Tehran's
chief delegate here vowed that Iran would become a nuclear fuel
producer and supplier within a decade.
8/12/05 Friday
In thousands of pages of oral histories released today,
firefighters describe in vivid, intimate detail how they rushed to
save fleeing civilians from churning smoke and fire before the
World Trade Center collapsed in a monstrous cloud of debris and
choking dust. The histories, recorded in the weeks after the Sept.
11 attack, offer some of the most detailed descriptions of the
day's horror as seen through the eyes of firefighters who lost 343
of their brethren.
Across Gaza, Jewish settlers were observing a bittersweet last
Sabbath, before their forcible removal by Israeli troops next
week. There was the dread of being uprooted, the rush of making a
last stand and the desperate hope for a miracle. It was an
especially festive Sabbath in Roni Bakshi's home, with guests
camping on his lawn and stuffed peppers cooking on the stove for
the ritual Friday evening meal.
President Bush and his motorcade passed the growing camp of war
protesters outside his ranch today without incident. As Bush
passed on his way to and from a political fundraiser, law
enforcement blocked two intersecting roads where the demonstrators
have camped out all week. Officers required the group to stand
behind yellow tape, but no one was asked to leave.
"American Idol" judge Paula Abdul will remain with the hit Fox TV
series after an investigation found no proof that she had an affair
with a contestant or helped him on the talent show, the network
said today. Lawyers who investigated claims by unsuccessful
contestant Corey Clark of a sexual relationship with Abdul could
not substantiate his allegations, Fox said.
8/13/05 Saturday
For the second time since the Iraq war began, the Pentagon is
replacing body armor for U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq,
citing a need for better protection that can withstand the
strongest of attacks from insurgents, a spokesman said today. The
effort, which began more than a year ago, would upgrade the
protection used by more than 500,000 soldiers as well as civilian
employees and news reporters. The first upgrade installed ceramic
protective plates in the vests and was completed in early 2004.
American and U.N. diplomats stepped up pressure today on Sunni
Arabs to accept a new constitution with only two days before the
deadline for its approval. A top Sunni official said his group
would never accept terms that would lead to the division of the
country. President Jalal Talabani predicted a draft constitution
will be ready by Monday's deadline, and a Kurdish official said the
draft would be presented to parliament with or without Sunni
approval.
8/14/05 Sunday
Israel lowered a road barrier sealing the Gaza Strip to Israeli
civilians at midnight - signaling the start of a historic
withdrawal that will end its 38-year occupation, redraw borders and
reshape prospects for Mideast peace. But several hundred settlers
vowed to stay in their homes and ignore orders to leave Gaza within
48 hours. They were reinforced by up to 5,000 hard-line activists
from outside Gaza who planned to block forceful evictions.
A Cypriot plane full of vacationers slammed into a mountainside
north of Athens today after at least one pilot lost consciousness
from lack of oxygen, killing all 121 people aboard, more than a
third of them children. The cause of Greece's deadliest plane
crash appeared to be technical failure - resulting in high-altitude
decompression - and not terrorism, authorities said. A transport
official said the 115 passengers and six crew may have been dead
when the plane went down.
President Bush's standing with an American public anxious about
Iraq and the nation's direction is lower than that of the last two
men who won re-election to the White House - Ronald Reagan and Bill
Clinton - at this point in their second terms. But solid backing
from his base supporters has kept Bush from sinking to the depths
reached by former presidents Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy
Carter and Bush's father. Truman decided not to run for re-
election. Nixon resigned. Carter and the first President Bush were
defeated in re-election campaigns.
8/15/05 Monday
Iraqi leaders failed to meet a key deadline today to finish a new
constitution, stalling over the same fundamental issues of power-
sharing - including federalism, oil wealth and Islam's impact on
women - that have bedeviled the country since Saddam Hussein's
ouster. Just 20 minutes before midnight, parliament voted to give
negotiators another seven days, until Aug. 22, to try to draft the
charter. The delay was a strong rebuff of the Bush
administration's insistence that the deadline be met, even if some
issues were unresolved, to maintain political momentum and blunt
Iraq's deadly insurgency.
On the first day of Israel's Gaza pullout, soldiers handed out
eviction notices to sobbing Jewish settlers and helped some pack,
but troops also scuffled with protesters who barricaded their
communities with burning tires and locked arms. Army commanders
took pains to avoid serious clashes and refrained from forcing
their way into settlements where opposition was heavy - a display
of sensitivity before unleashing the military's muscle to forcibly
remove holdouts starting Wednesday.
A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck northeastern Japan,
triggering two small tsunamis and shaking skyscrapers as far away
as Tokyo, 185 miles to the south. At least 27 people were reported
injured. A caved-in roof at an indoor pool in the coastal city of
Sendai injured 14 people, national broadcaster NHK reported.
8/16/05 Tuesday
Thousands of Jewish settlers and supporters defied today's deadline
to leave Gaza, pelting Israeli troops with eggs and stones and
dancing around the Torah in celebration of their resistance to
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's historic plan to disengage from the
Palestinians. More than 100 Israeli military vehicles will leave a
huge staging area at dawn Wednesday and head to Gaza to forcibly
evacuate those remaining behind, and travel to the main crossing
point into the Gush Katif bloc of settlements.
A chartered jet filled with tourists returning home to the French
Caribbean island of Martinique crashed today in western Venezuela,
killing all 160 people on board. The plane plunged to the ground
after the pilot reported both engines had failed, officials said.
Wreckage was strewn across a remote pasture near Machiques, 400
miles west of Caracas near the border with Colombia just east of
the Sierra de Perija mountain range. From above, only the tail of
the West Caribbean Airways plane could be seen intact, lying amid
charred trees.
One of President Bush's neighbors will allow use of his land by
dozens of war protesters who have camped in roadside ditches the
past 11 days, giving them more room and halving their distance from
Bush's ranch. Fred Mattlage, an Army veteran, said he sympathizes
with the demonstrators whose makeshift camp off the winding, two-
lane road leading to Bush's ranch has angered most residents.
Mattlage said the group will be safer on his corner 1-acre lot.
8/17/05 Wednesday
Jewish settlers sobbed and screamed, some of them ripping their
shirts in mourning, as Israeli troops dragged them from homes and
synagogues today - the beginning of the end of Israel's 38-year
occupation of the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, a settler killed
four Palestinian laborers in a shooting rampage, which Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denounced as a twisted act of "Jewish
terror" designed to stop the historic pullout.
Hundreds of candlelight vigils calling for an end to the war in
Iraq lit up the night, part of a national effort spurred by one
mother's anti-war demonstration near President Bush's ranch. The
vigils were urged by Cindy Sheehan, who has become the icon of the
anti-war movement since she started a protest Aug. 6 in memory of
her son Casey, who died in Iraq last year.
8/18/05 Thursday
Riot troops stormed synagogues in two hardline Jewish settlements
today to evict hundreds of militant holdouts who locked arms in a
human chain and pelted soldiers with acid, oil and sand, the most
violent clashes in Israel's historic Gaza pullout. By the close of
the day, 14,000 unarmed forces had cleared all but five of Gaza's
21 settlements - including Kfar Darom and Neve Dekalim, pillars of
resistance to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to cede Gaza to
the Palestinians and alter the course of Mideast peacemaking.
In iraq, a spokesman for the biggest Shiite party today predicted a
breakthrough on the constitution within the next two days, as
negotiators scrambled to finish the draft by next week's deadline.
A roadside bomb killed four more U.S. soldiers in a city north of
Baghdad. Four days before the deadline, Sunni Arab members of the
drafting committee met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to
present their objections to federalism and other issues blocking an
agreement.
The grieving woman who started an anti-war demonstration near
President Bush's ranch nearly two weeks ago left the camp today
after learning her mother had had a stroke, but she told supporters
the protest would go on. Cindy Sheehan told reporters she had just
received the phone call and was leaving immediately to be with her
74-year-old mother at a Los Angeles hospital.
8/19/05 Friday
Attackers firing Katyusha rockets narrowly missed a U.S. amphibious
assault ship docked at this Red Sea resort today, but killed a
Jordanian soldier in the most serious strike at the Navy since the
USS Cole bombing nearly five years ago. Two more rockets were shot
toward nearby Israel without causing serious damage.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas promised freedom, jobs and homes
for the people of Gaza once Israel completes its pullout. Hours
before he spoke today at Gaza's abandoned airport, an Israeli
bulldozer demolished the first Jewish settlement, clearing land for
Palestinian development. In the settlement of Gadid, Israeli
troops expelled the last settlers holed up in a synagogue, crashing
through a flaming barricade of cars, wooden planks and garbage
bins. Then, Israel suspended evicting settlers for the Jewish
Sabbath, having evacuated 87 percent of Gaza's settlers in just 2
1/2 days. All but four settlements were vacant.
8/20/05 Saturday
The Army is planning for the possibility of keeping the current
number of soldiers in Iraq - well over 100,000 - for four more
years, the Army's top general said today. In an AP interview, Gen.
Peter Schoomaker said the Army is prepared for the "worst case" in
terms of the required level of troops in Iraq. He said the number
could be adjusted lower if called for by slowing the force rotation
or by shortening tours for soldiers.
Sunni Arabs complained they were being sidelined in talks on the
new constitution only two days before the deadline and warned that
their community will reject the document if it is submitted to
parliament without Sunni consent. "They will surprise us in the
final hour," Saleh al-Mutlaq, one of four main Sunni negotiators,
said. "We will reject it and the people will be angry, the street
will be angry and as a result we will be back to square one."
Northwest Airlines jets roared into the sky over the heads of
striking mechanics today as the nation's fourth-largest carrier
turned over its maintenance to replacement workers on Day 1 of the
industry's first major walkout in seven years. This afternoon,
Northwest was already facing at least two maintenance jobs in
Detroit, one of its hubs. One Northwest plane blew out four tires
as it landed on a runway, and another made an emergency landing
after flight attendants reported smoke in the cabin. No injuries
were reported in either incident.
8/21/05 Sunday
A day before the deadline for the new constitution, Sunni Arabs
appealed today to the United States and United Nations to prevent
Shiites and Kurds from pushing a draft through parliament without
their consent, warning it would only worsen the crisis in Iraq.
Leaders of the Sunni Arab, Shiite and Kurdish factions planned
final talks on Monday morning according to officials of all three
groups. "I am not optimistic," said Kamal Hamdoun, a negotiator
for the influential Sunni minority. "We either reach unanimity or
not."
In Afghanistan, a massive bomb exploded under a wooden bridge as a
convoy of armored Humvees was crossing it today, killing four U.S.
soldiers and wounding three others in the deadliest assault on
American forces in Afghanistan in nearly two months. The troops
were part of a major offensive against militants who have vowed to
subvert legislative elections on Sept. 18 - the next step toward
democracy after more than two decades of war and civil strife.
Iraq war protesters camping out near President Bush's ranch got
some support tonight from a prominent figure in the anti-Vietnam
war movement: folk singer Joan Baez. "In the first march I went to
(opposing Vietnam) there were 10 of us. This is huge," Baez told
relatives of fallen U.S. soldiers today before performing a free
concert just up the road from the ranch.
8/22/05 Monday
In another dramatic last-minute standoff, Iraqi leaders put off a
vote on a draft constitution today, adjourning parliament at a
midnight deadline in a bid for three more days to win over the
Sunni Arab minority whose support is key to stopping the
insurgency. The Shiite-Kurdish bloc that submitted the draft
constitution expressed optimism that a deal was still possible..
But top Sunni Arab leaders said flatly that compromise was far off.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, President Bush compared the fight against
terrorism to both world wars and other great conflicts of the 20th
century as he tried to reassure an increasingly skeptical public
today to support U.S. military involvement in Iraq. With the anti-
war movement finding new momentum behind grieving mother Cindy
Sheehan, Bush acknowledged the fighting in Iraq is difficult and
dangerous. But he told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national
convention the fight is necessary to keep terrorists out of the
United States.
The Coast Guard is investigating the disappearance of Olivia
Newton-John's longtime boyfriend, who failed to return from a
sport-fishing trip off the California coast seven weeks ago.
Patrick Kim McDermott, 48, is listed as missing after he left San
Pedro, 20 miles south of Los Angeles, on June 30 for the overnight
trip.
8/23/05 Tuesday
President Bush took on the California mother who has been defiantly
protesting outside his Texas home, saying today that Cindy Sheehan
doesn't represent the views of most military families and that
fulfilling demands like hers for withdrawal from Iraq would weaken
the United States. Bush said he understood the anguish of the
woman whose son was killed in Iraq last year. But he said he
disagreed with her assertion that U.S. troops should be brought
home before more die in a "senseless war."
Israeli forces armed with riot gear, saws and wire cutters evicted
militant holdouts from two Jewish settlements today, completing
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's historic withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip and a corner of the West Bank. The relative ease and lack of
violence with which Israel pulled out of the 25 settlements in just
a week was a stinging setback to Israel's ultra-nationalist
movement, which for months had mounted vocal and dramatic
resistance.
A Peruvian airliner carrying 100 people crashed today near a jungle
town while attempting an emergency landing in a storm, killing at
least 37 people. The pilot tried to land in a marsh, but the
impact split the aircraft in two, a regional official said. At
least 57 people from TANS Peru Flight 204 were being treated at
hospitals, and it was not clear whether anyone had escaped injury
in the crash, the latest of several major airline accidents around
the world this month.
8/24/05 Wednesday
Bucking the Pentagon, a federal commission voted today to spare a
submarine base in Connecticut and a shipyard straddling the Maine-
New Hampshire border, preserving a major military presence in New
England and 12,000 defense-related jobs. On the first of at least
two days of meetings, the base-closing panel agreed with proposals
to shutter hundreds of small and large facilities in all corners of
the country, including major bases such as Fort Monmouth in New
Jersey, a naval air station in Georgia and an Army garrison in
Michigan.
A woman whose son was killed in Iraq returned to Texas today to
resume her anti-war protest near President Bush's ranch after a
weeklong absence to care for her ailing mother. About a dozen
protesters who have continued the peace vigil picked up Cindy
Sheehan at the Waco airport this afternoon, six days after she flew
to Los Angeles when her 74-year-old mother suffered a stroke.
8/25/05 Thursday
Hurricane Katrina felled trees, peeled off roofs and left more than
1.3 million customers without power as it slammed into Florida's
densely populated southeastern coast, late pm today, with driving
rains and sustained winds of 80 mph. Four people were killed,
three by falling trees. Rain fell in horizontal sheets, seas were
estimated at 15 feet and wind gusted to 92 mph, toppling trees and
street signs. Florida Power & Light said the vast majority of
people without electricity were in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Siding with the Pentagon, the base-closing commission voted today
to shut down the Army's historic Walter Reed hospital and move
about 20,000 defense workers miles away from their offices just
outside the nation's capital. The nine-member panel also started
deciding which Air Force facilities should be closed or
consolidated as part of the Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's
nationwide restructuring of military bases.
The speaker of Iraq's parliament announced a one-day extension
early Friday in talks on the new constitution - a fourth attempt to
win Sunni Arab approval. But he said that if no agreement is
reached, the document would bypass parliament and be decided in an
Oct. 15 referendum. Shiite leaders signaled they had lost patience
with protracted negotiating and wanted to refer the draft approved
by them and the Kurds last Monday to the electorate.
8/26/05 Friday
Utility crews scrambled to restore power to more than 1 million
customers today as Hurricane Katrina, blamed for seven deaths and
miles of flooded streets in South Florida, threatened the state
with an encore visit. Katrina was churning in the Gulf of Mexico
and on a path to make landfall anywhere from the Florida Panhandle
to Louisiana as early as Monday, possibly as a Category 4 storm.
Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders decided today to send an amended
constitution to parliament this weekend, even though Sunni Arab
negotiators said they rejected the latest document. Bypassing
Sunnis would be a blow to U.S. efforts to lure them away from the
insurgency. Unless reversed, the decision, announced by several
Shiite officials after daylong negotiations, would set the stage
for a bitter fight across the country. Shiites and Kurds will
encourage their people to vote for the charter in the Oct. 15
referendum with Sunnis lobbying just as strongly against it.
8/27/05 Saturday
Gulf Coast residents jammed freeways and gas stations today as they
frantically rushed to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina, a
vicious storm that could make a direct hit on New Orleans and
submerge the low-lying city in nearly 20 feet of water. "Ladies
and gentlemen, this is not a test. This is the real deal," New
Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said. "Board up your homes, make sure
you have enough medicine, make sure the car has enough gas. Do all
things you normally do for a hurricane but treat this one
differently because it is pointed towards New Orleans."
Several thousand people descended on President Bush's adopted
hometown today, most in a cross-country caravan for a pro-Bush
rally and others to support an anti-war demonstration led by
grieving mother Cindy Sheehan. Bush supporters gathered for an
event marking the culmination of the "You don't speak for me,
Cindy!" tour, which started last week in California. The crowd of
about 1,500 chanted, "Cindy, go home!"
Hungry, thirsty and sweaty South Floridians waited for hours in
lines that sometimes stretched for miles to get food, ice and water
today, two days after Hurricane Katrina knocked out power and
flooded hundreds of streets and homes. Some Panhandle residents
were slightly relieved that the 115-mph storm appeared less likely
to make a second landfall in their area sometime Monday, but many
weren't placing too much faith in forecasts that shift as fast as a
hurricane's winds blow.
8/28/05 Sunday
A monstrous Hurricane Katrina barreled toward New Orleans today
with 160- mph wind and a threat of a 28-foot storm surge, forcing a
mandatory evacuation of the below-sea-level city and prayers for
those who remained to face a doomsday scenario. "Have God on your
side, definitely have God on your side," Nancy Noble said as she
sat with her puppy and three friends in six lanes of one-way
traffic on gridlocked Interstate 10. "It's very frightening."
When Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans on Monday, it could turn
one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted
with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by
floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries. Experts have
warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New
Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5
storm.
Iraqi negotiators finished the new constitution today and referred
it to the voters but without the endorsement of Sunni Arabs, a
major setback for the U.S. strategy to lure Sunnis away from the
insurgency and hasten the day U.S. troops can go home. The absence
of Sunni Arab endorsement, after more than two months of intensive
negotiations, raised fears of more violence and set the stage for a
bitter political fight ahead of an Oct. 15 nationwide referendum on
the document.
The Rev. Al Sharpton joined hundreds of war protesters outside
President Bush's ranch for an interfaith service today, saying he
felt compelled to meet Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who
started the rally three weeks earlier. Sheehan had arrived in
Bush's hometown on Aug. 6 and refused to leave until she could
question the president about the war that has killed more than
1,870 U.S. service members, including her 24-year-old son, Casey.
8/29/05 Monday
Announcing itself with shrieking, 145-mph winds, Hurricane Katrina
slammed into the Gulf Coast today, submerging entire neighborhoods
up to their roofs, swamping Mississippi's beachfront casinos and
blowing out windows in hospitals and high-rises. At least 55
people were killed, authorities said. For New Orleans - a
dangerously vulnerable city because it sits mostly below sea level
in a bowl-shaped depression - it was not the apocalyptic storm
forecasters had feared. The storm's center had missed New Orleans
and had veered off a few miles to the East.
They lined up by the thousands to get inside, clutching meager
belongings and crying children. A few hours later, the electrical
power went out, turning the building into a muggy mess. Then part
of the roof blew off. For an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 refugees -
many of them poor and frail - the Louisiana Superdome was a welcome
shelter from Hurricane Katrina, but a miserable one at the same
time - there had been some ruptures in the roof and there was some
rain leaking down.
8/30/05 Tuesday
Rescuers along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the
dead to reach the living today in a race against time and rising
waters, while New Orleans sank deeper into crisis and Louisiana's
governor ordered storm refugees out of this drowning city. Two
levees broke and sent water coursing into the streets of the Big
Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared to have escaped
widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated 80
percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet
deep in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped.
Helicopters dropped sandbags on two broken levees as the water kept
rising in the streets. The governor drew up plans to evacuate just
about everyone left in town. Looters ransacked stores. Doctors in
their scrubs had to use canoes to bring supplies to blacked-out
hospitals. New Orleans sank deeper into crisis today, a full day
after Hurricane Katrina hit.
President Bush is returning to Washington to oversee the federal
response to Hurricane Katrina as aides make arrangements for an
expected visit to storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast later this
week. Bush cut his monthlong vacation by two days even though
aides have long contended that his duties are uninterrupted when he
spends time at his ranch in nearby Crawford has White House-level
communications capability.
8/31/05 Wednesday
With thousands feared drowned in what could be America's deadliest
natural disaster in a century, New Orleans' leaders all but
surrendered the streets to floodwaters today and began turning out
the lights on the ruined city - perhaps for months. Looting
spiraled so out of control that Mayor Ray Nagin ordered virtually
the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and
focus on the brazen packs of thieves who have turned increasingly
hostile.
President Bush pledged today to do "all in our power" to save lives
and provide sustenance to uncounted victims of Hurricane Katrina
but cautioned that recovery of the Gulf Coast will take years.
"We're dealing with one of the worst natural disasters in our
nation's history," he said at the White House after breaking off
his Texas vacation and viewing the devastation from Air Force One.
As a public health catastrophe unfolded today in New Orleans,
hospitals in the Crescent City sank further into disaster,
airlifting babies without their parents to other states and
struggling with more sick people appearing at their doors.
Dangerous, unsanitary conditions spread across the city, much of
which now sits in a murky stew of germs.
Panicked by rumors of a suicide bomber, thousands of Shiite
pilgrims broke into a stampede on a bridge during a religious
procession today, crushing one another or plunging 30 feet into the
muddy Tigris river. About 950 died, mostly women and children,
officials said. Hundreds of lost sandals littered the two-lane
bridge while children floundered in the waters below, trying to
reach dry land. The tragedy was the single biggest loss of life
known in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
A slow exodus from the smelly and sweltering Superdome began today
as bedraggled refugees boarded giant trucks and then buses for a
trip to more comfortable surroundings in the Houston Astrodome.
The evacuation was kept almost secret to avoid a stampede. People
were taken a few at a time through a garage, then to trucks that
plowed through 4 feet of water and delivered them to the buses.
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