Wednesday, June 15, 2005

World News Wrap - June 15th 2005

The unprecedented heatwave continues in northern India and Bangladesh. And sweltering temperatures are also reported in the northern US states of New York and Washington DC. Also in the US a 7.0 earthquake hit off the California coast early Tuesday [Jun 14 19:50:54 2005 PDT local time / Wed Jun 15 02:50:54 2005 UTC]. The earthquake triggered a tsunami warning but an all-clear was quickly issued.

In China six people have died in a riot. Farmers were shot by unknown assailants, according The Washington Post, after protests in which they were demanding a halt to a land-grab by authorities for a new power station. Footage shown on CNN was shaky but clearly showed a full scale riot underway. The cameraman was apparently beaten and his camera smashed, according to the Post, but the tape survived. And Microsoft has been criticized for ‘complying with Chinese censorship laws’ as they censor the internet in compliance with China’s strict laws relating to internet use.

Usama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar are said to be alive and well according to CNN reports from a Taliban leader in Afghanistan. In Iraq a series of suicide attacks has killed nearly 30. In Baquba 23 soldiers died and 28 were injured by an attack at an Iraqi army canteen. And an attack in Baghdad killed several police officers and injured many more. The Australian contractor Douglas Wood, kidnapped by insurgents six weeks ago, has been found and released in a security sweep. Meanwhile in Spain, police say they have captured a dozen suspects connected to the Madrid train bombings.

And finally the Space Shuttle is getting ready for launch. Today [Wednesday] Discovery rolled out to the launch pad taking nearly 9 hours to complete its journey. The launch window for STS-114 is set from 13th to 31st July.

[16:27 GMT 15/06/2005]

No comments: