August 2005 - August 10, 2005 (Wednesday)

August 10, 2005 (Wednesday)

• In Delhi, India - SaMaPa (Sopori Academy Of Music and Performing Arts) presents its Inaugural Music Festival - SamaPA Sangeet Sammelan -2005' at IHC. the chief guests on the occasion are Chief Minister Smt. Sheila Dikshit and Dr. Farooq Abdullah. the function began with the Academy's Anthem -Saraswati Vandana composed by Abhay Rustum Sopori. a sitar and sarod recital by two young Zunain Halim Khan and Anirban Dasgupta and vocal recital by Bugum Parween Sultana are the main highlights of the day. Also samapa has introduced a cash award of Rs. 1,00,000 to Smt. Shameem Azad (for her contribution to Kashmiri Music) and Pandit Ramashray Jha (for contribution to Indian classical music).

• In Chile, special Judge Sergio Muñoz indicts Lucía Hiriart and Marco Antonio Pinochet, wife and youngest son of Augusto Pinochet, on charges of tax evasion. Hiriart is confined in a military facility in Santiago and Marco Pinochet in Santiago's Capuchinos Jail (BBC).
• The Transportation Equity Act of 2005 is signed into law in the United States by President George W. Bush. (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq: Six US soldiers are killed in insurgent attacks throughout Iraq, including four killed in one attack in the northern oil-producing Kurdish town of Baiji, bringing the total US military death toll in Iraq to 1,841. (CNN) (BBC)
• A Sikorsky S-76 helicopter of the Finnish company Copterline has crashed into the Gulf of Finland near Estonia's capital Tallinn with 14 on board; eight Finns, four Estonians and two Americans. There are no survivors..(BBC)
• The United States and the African Union have dropped their demands that last week's coup in Mauritania be reversed. The US is working with the military junta to ensure that multi-party elections are held as soon as possible (BBC)
• Yahoo Inc. is negotiating to pay approx. US$1 billion, plus the transfer of its own China operations, in return for a 35% equity stake in Alibaba.com, China's second-largest e-commerce concern. (Reuters)
• A private company, Space Adventures, announces plans to create a tourism program to send people around the Moon. A 5 1/2 day lunar flight could happen in 2008 or 2009, and cost about 100 million USD. (Yahoo), (CNN)
• The airline catering firm Gate Gourmet sack 670 workers at London's Heathrow Airport, sparking a sympathy strike from British Airways staff. (TGWU)