January 2005 - January 9, 2005

January 9, 2005

• Conflict in Iraq:
  • Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr joins Sunnis in calling for a delay in the assembly election, saying that it cannot happen if Sunnis cannot fairly participate. President of Iran Mohammad Khatami says his country opposes a postponement because the elections will facilitate "the exit of occupation forces". (Boston Globe) (BBC)
  • The Iraqi interior ministry reports that U.S. soldiers mistakenly shot and killed two Iraqi policemen and two civilians after an attack on their convoy.
  • Gunmen kill the deputy police chief of the city of Samarra, Major Muhammad Muzaffar. (BBC)
  • The U.S. military frees about 230 prisoners it was holding at Abu Ghraib. Around 7,400 remain in custody. (BBC)
• Arab–Israeli conflict: A French officer, working for the United Nations, is killed by shelling in the disputed Shebaa Farms area of Southern Lebanon. Israeli planes and artillery had been firing on suspected Hezbollah positions in the area in retaliation for Hezbollah's attack which killed an Israeli officer. (BBC)
• After a 66% turnout and extended hours, an exit poll shows Mahmoud Abbas winning the Palestinian presidential election with two-thirds of the vote and challenger Mustafa Barghouti getting 19.7%. (AP) (BBC)
• Storm winds sweep across northern Europe, leaving at least 13 people dead and millions without electricity. (CNN) (BBC)
• In Nairobi, Kenya, a peace treaty is signed between warring factions in the Sudanese civil war, which has claimed over 1.5 million lives in more than 20 years. (BBC)
• After convincing the authorities that he was shooting a documentary, Borat managed to infuriate a crowd at a rodeo in Salem, Virginia, USA: first by saying that "I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards...and may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq" (which received a fair amount of applause); and then, by rendering a mangled version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that was misreported as ending with the words "your home in the grave" by the Roanoke Times (Borat had actually sung "home of the gays"). He was then escorted off of the premises.