March 2005 - March 24 2005

March 24 2005

• An explosion occurred at Cavelier-de-LaSalle High School in LaSalle, Montreal, Canada. The explosion wounded 12 and destroyed a part of the school. The time of the explosion was 1:32 p.m. local time, during the third period of the day. Only 2 doors of the School opened, complicating the evacuation of over two thousand students.
• Paleontologists from North Carolina State University announce the discovery of structures resembling blood vessels and red blood cells inside the hindlimb fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex. (Science Magazine) (BBC).
• The Washington Post claims to have obtained documents indicating that "ghosting", the use of Army prisons in Iraq by the CIA to hold unregistered inmates, is "systematic and known to three senior intelligence officials", contradicting earlier claims by the Army that such incidences were rare and ad hoc. (Washington Post)
• In Kyrgyzstan, protesters and riot police clash in the capital, Bishkek. (RIA Novosti) (ReutersAlertNet) (BBC) President Askar Akayev's presidential palace, the White House, is overrun and the opposition is planning for a new government. (BBC) Akayev flees Bishkek by helicopter. His immediate whereabouts are unclear. Some report him going to Russia, others to Kazakhstan. (Fox News) Akayev is reported to have resigned, but this is not confirmed. (ABC) (Xinhua)
• Bobby Fischer leaves Japan for Iceland via Copenhagen after 8 months in detention. (Mainichi Daily News) (Reuters) (BBC)
• The World Health Organization states that tuberculosis cases in some African countries have tripled since 1990. There are also resistant strains of tuberculosis in Russia. (Reuters) (RIA Novosti) (BBC)
• France presents a draft resolution to vote at the United Nations. It would give war crime cases in Darfur region of Sudan to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. USA resists the idea. (EUObserver) (Reuters) (BBC)
• World Expo 2005 opens in Nagoya, Japan. (Expo 2005) (Asahi Shinbun) (ITAR-TASS) (SwissInfo)
• The US Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal filed by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have her feeding tube reinserted. Florida judge George Greer likewise declines to open Schiavo's records to the Florida Department of Children and Families (Reuters)
• The Sony PlayStation Portable is released in North America.
• NBC's successful comedy The Office premiered in the United States.