February 2006 - 27 February 2006 (Monday)

27 February 2006 (Monday)

• President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Chen Shui-bian announces the cease of the function of the National Unification Council and the application of the Guidelines for National Unification. The move is condemned by the pan-Blue Coalition and People's Republic of China. Chen says that the reversal is a response to aggression by the PRC. (Washington Post) (China Daily) (Taipei Times) (BBC)
• International Court of Justice (ICJ) begins hearing a landmark genocide case, Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Serbia and Montenegro. Bosnia filed a claim alleging violations of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide against the former Yugoslavia during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. Bosnian genocide case at the ICJ is a first ever genocide court case against a state in the 60 year history of ICJ. (Reuters), (ICJ press release)
• Securitas depot robbery: British police announce that the total amount of cash stolen in last Wednesday's Securitas depot robbery was GBP £53 million (USD $92.6 million, €77.8 million). Five more people have been arrested in the last 24 hours and 10 properties searched in the ongoing investigation. (BBC)
• The United Nations World Food Programme says that it needs 11 million USD to be able to continue its Afghanistan operations to June this year. "Poor and hungry schoolchildren who receive take-home rations of food as an incentive to attend school will receive at most half their usual ration and in some cases none at all", says the U.N. More than 50% of the nation's children are malnourished. (Reuters)
• Another series of bomb attacks in southern Iranian cities of Dezful and Abadan wounds at least six people. Eight people died when bombs exploded in the provincial capital Ahwaz a month ago. The Iranian government again accuses Britain of being behind the attacks, although a small Arab separatist group claimed responsibility on its website. (BBC)
• Post-invasion Iraq: The deadline set by the kidnappers of Jill Caroll, after which they said they would execute her if their demands were not met, passes with no word yet on whether she has been killed. An Iraqi official says he believes she is still alive and that they know her original kidnapper's name and address, although Carroll may have been sold to another group since. (AP) (ABC) (CSMonitor)
• The Dubai Ports World controversy continues with Miami-based Eller & Company trying to obtain an injunction in the UK High Court to prevent the sale of P&O to Dubai Ports World. (BBC)
• The Da Vinci Code: Writers Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh sue Random House in the High Court of Justice in London claiming that the best selling novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown contains ideas stolen from their 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. (Guardian)
• Facebook is opened to the public.