October 2005 - October 12, 2005 (Wednesday)

October 12, 2005 (Wednesday)

• Six armed Somali pirates hijack the MV Miltzow, a freighter that is carrying United Nations food aid. After its cargo of 850 tonnes of food aid was offloaded in the port of Merka, the ship was forced to sail down the coast to Barawa before being released two days later. (Reuters)
• CNN reports that the Louisiana attorney general is investigating the possibility that mercy killings of critically ill patients by staff medical professionals at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana occurred during Hurricane Katrina. (CNN) (BusinessWire) (DallasBusinessJournal)
• German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder informs that he won't play a role in the Merkel grand coalition cabinet. He criticizes the United States for its response to Hurricane Katrina and "Anglo-Saxon economic policies," while stressing the importance of Franco-Germanic ties. (Reuters)
• Conflict in Iraq: At least 30 people die following an insurgent suicide bomb attack in Talafar, North Western Iraq, the second such attack in as many days. (BBC)
• The People's Republic of China launches the manned Shenzhou 6 spacecraft. Fei Junlong and Niè Hǎishèng will spend five days in orbit in their Shenzhou spacecraft. (People's Daily)
• Iraq's Constitutional referendum: the prospects of the proposed Iraqi constitution being approved in Saturday's referendum are boosted by a deal struck with a major Sunni Arab party, the Iraqi Islamic Party. (CNN)
• Syria's interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan, who was head of the country's military intelligence in neighboring Lebanon for nearly 20 years, has committed suicide. (CNN)